41-year-old female with right knee pain and swelling. Evaluate for meniscus tear. Due to the patient's body habitus, an HD coil was not able to be utilized resulting in slightly suboptimal image quality.MENISCI: There is globular signal abnormality within the anterior horn of the lateral meniscus indicating intrasubstance degeneration. The signal also extends to both the tibial and femoral articular surfaces indicating degenerative tearing. There is a heterogeneous collection of signal abnormality along the anterior aspect of the lateral meniscus representing a parameniscal cyst. There is additional branching signal abnormality within the body of the lateral meniscus which extends to the free edge, representing additional tearing. There is horizontally oriented signal abnormality within the posterior horn of the lateral meniscus which extends to the tibial articular surface, representing additional tearing. There is perhaps minimal undersurface fraying of the posterior horn of the medial meniscus, but we see no discrete tear. The anterior horn appears intact.ARTICULAR CARTILAGE AND BONE: There is full-thickness cartilage loss along the inferior aspect of the lateral facet of the patella. There is also a full-thickness defect of the articular cartilage along the medial facet of the patella with what appears to be a dislodged cartilaginous fragment within the patellofemoral joint. There is also a full-thickness defect of the articular cartilage of the femoral trochlea superiorly. Additional full-thickness cartilage loss is identified along the lateral facet of the femoral trochlea with small underlying subchondral cysts. There is full-thickness cartilage loss along the lateral tibial plateau with underlying degenerative subchondral signal abnormality. There is relatively mild degeneration of the articular cartilage of the lateral femoral condyle. There is near full-thickness degeneration of the articular cartilage of the weightbearing portion of the medial femoral condyle above and anterior to the posterior horn of the medial meniscus. There are tricompartmental osteophytes.LIGAMENTS: The cruciate and collateral ligaments appear intact.EXTENSOR MECHANISM: The extensor mechanism appears intact.ADDITIONAL
1. Extensive degenerative tearing of the lateral meniscus as described above.2. Tricompartmental osteoarthritis as described above.3. Large joint effusion.