MRI on knee- meniscus tear?

[smilermilo]

Hi There,
I had a meniscus tear which I had surgery a few months ago to fix. I then had an accidental injury in which I tripped over a loose wire at work, catching my bad knee under the wire and jolting it, although I did not actually fall over on to my knee. My knee was very sore for quite a few weeks, but now 4 weeks on, it seems okay again. I had an MRI though, as I was concerned that the trip had hurt my knee again, maybe tore it again? I am now struggling to work out what the MRI result means so it would be great of someone could help? This is what the MRI reported:-

"There is persistent linear high signal traversing the posterior third of the medial meniscus- the high signal  cleft is slightly wider and has slightly more irregular margins compared to the MRI taken before the knee surgery (the one where they saw the tear and told me I therefore needed surgery)- but the signal is not of fluid signal and this appearance may reflect postsurgical change rather than a residual/recurrent tear"
All other parts of the knee were reported as 'preserved', 'intact' and 'unremarkable'.

Can someone please let me know from reading the above reporting, if they think I have torn or injured my knee again from my accident since my surgery?

I know that the high linear signal generally means something is wrong, such as a tear, but what confuses me is that this high signal could be from postsurgical change. But my first MRI showed this high signal because I had a tear, so surely after the surgery has fixed this, the signal shouldn't be so high still? Yet my second MRI after surgery and after my accident shows slightly higher signal than when I had the tear! Would postsurgical change still cause high signal? Does that sound right to you guys?

I hope someone can help me understand more. Very much appreciated.

Many Thanks :)
Holly

[JD1963]

Hey Holly!

No, the two are not related. Ganglion cysts are harmless unless they get large enough to press on other structures, mainly nerves. A Ganglion (most commonly found on the wrist) is a small sac filled with a gel type synovial fluid. It occurs at weaker areas of the synovium, which surrounds joints and tendons. I will further explain it if you wish. Please feel free to contact me anytime for any type of information! Best wishes!  JD1963

[smilermilo]

Hi there, thank you so much for your reply, it is much appreciated. I was sort of trusting that I was okay, but its great to get someone elses advice.
I do have an orthopaedic appointment booked, with the same guy who actually did my surgery, but I think I may cancel it and save myself £250 :-)
It feels okay now, I get little aches and pains here and there, but it seems okay.

Can I just ask you something else if you don't mind. I had a lipoma removed from the inside of my knee at the same time I have the PMM, it was about 2cm X 2cm. Its all gone now and I just have a scar. But on my MRI they mention a ganglion cyst. Its says:

''There is a small multilobed ganglion cyst situated closer to the posterior root of the medial meniscus- this was also present on the previous study and is unchanged''.
So im guessing they did not do anything with this during the surgery. But is this to do with the lipoma I had externally that was removed? Should I be worried about this? Im guessing not, as they didn't do anything to it during surgery?

Thanks again for all your help.

Kind Regards,

Holly

[JD1963]

Hey Holly! Welcome to MedHelp, I am the Orthopedic Community Leader for this website. In my opinion your knee should be fine (unless you are experiencing discomfort). The high linear signal before surgery was showing the "empty" space where the tear was. What has happened is the tear has been removed, therefore, creating a larger space (higher linear signal) than you had before. We (I am a Orthopedic First Assistant) have these square shaped biters that we use during arthroscopic surgery to "bite" the tear into little pieces, then they just flush out the drain. If have further questions about your knee or something else please feel free to contact me anytime. Have a great day!  JD1963