Postoperative Meniscus

Abstract

Imaging of the postoperative meniscus is vital in patients with recurrent knee symptoms, such as pain and locking, following surgical treatment of meniscal tears. Modern surgical procedures have revolutionized treatment strategies of meniscal tears with increasingly growing interest in meniscal preservation surgeries to save as much meniscal tissue as possible and minimize the risk of premature osteoarthrosis. Familiarity with expected postoperative meniscal changes is crucial to prevent diagnostic errors as healing granulation tissue at the meniscal repair site may appear as high signal intensity that could mimic a recurrent tear. A surfacing intrameniscal T2-weighted signal intensity was found to be the most specific MR feature with the highest positive predictive value for a recurrent tear. Direct MR arthrography was shown to have superior diagnostic accuracy to conventional MRI at detecting meniscal retears following meniscectomy; however, both tests were found to have similar performances following meniscal repair. MR and CT arthrography may be utilized as problem-solving imaging tools in equivocal cases.