43-year-old male with right knee pain status post partial medial meniscectomy and patellar chondroplasty 5 years ago. Evaluate for medial meniscus tear versus chondromalacia. MENISCI: There is a defect in the undersurface fibers of the free edge of the posterior horn of the medial meniscus. There is branching intermediate signal intensity within the body of the medial meniscus which appears to extend to this defect as well as to both the tibial and femoral articular surfaces. Additional bandlike intermediate signal intensity within the posterior horn of the medial meniscus extends to this defect on multiple sequential images. This constellation of findings is more suggestive of a tear rather than postoperative changes. The anterior horn of the medial meniscus appears intact. The lateral meniscus appears intact.ARTICULAR CARTILAGE AND BONE: There is thinning of the articular cartilage along the medial femoral condyle above the body of the medial meniscus. There is minimal edema type signal abnormality within the posterior aspect of the tibial plateau which is presumably degenerative in etiology. There is mild heterogeneity of the signal of the articular cartilage along the medial facet of the patella which may represent a combination of articular cartilage degeneration or postsurgical changes. There also appears to be a small fissure partially traversing the articular cartilage of the medial facet of the patella. We see no large fluid-filled defect. The trochlear cartilage appears intact.LIGAMENTS: The cruciate and collateral ligaments appear intact. EXTENSOR MECHANISM: The extensor mechanism appears intact.ADDITIONAL
Findings compatible with a medial meniscus tear and articular cartilage degeneration as described above.