Role of magnetic resonance imaging in the evaluation of the anterior knee pain

Abstract

Background: To review the most common causes of Anterior knee pain (AKP), with an emphasis on their MRI findings; 70 patients were included (24 males and 46 females). Their age range is 10–53 years with a mean ± SD of 28.8 ± 9.06 years. All patients performed MRI of the affected knee. Results: Eleven disease entities were encompassed in this study; the patellar causes were dominating, where the chondromalacia patella being found in 43% of cases (n = 30), patellar instability was found in 19% (n = 13), transient patellar dislocation was found in 7% (n = 5), patellar tendinopathy was found in 4% (n = 3), and bipartite patella was found in 1% (n = 1). Hoffa’s disease was found in 14% (n = 10); the anterior meniscal tear was found in 13% (n = 9). Quadriceps tendinopathy was found in 3% (n = 2), and quadriceps tear was found in 4% (n = 3). Cartilage disease was found in 6% (n = 4); Osgood–Schlatter disease was found in 4% (n = 3); the coexistence of more than an entity was found in 13 cases (18.5%). Conclusions: MRI provided a safe and accurate modality in the diagnosis of different causes of AKP with a high specification in detecting the grades and the types of some diseases.