Hi Terrie,
had to reply to you since we share the same name and almost the same spelling! But also, I think I can help you interpret some of this. First of all, it seems you have pretty advanced arthritis all through the knee joint. That's what is meant by tricompartmental OA. Doctors divide the knee into 3 compartments, the medial femorotibial, which is where your 2 large leg bones meet on the inside of your thigh, the lateral femorotibial, which is the same thing on the outer part of the thigh, and the patellofemoral, which is where your knee contacts your upper thigh bone. The most advanced arthritis is located on the inner part of your thigh. Osteophytes are bone spurs, which form when bone rubs against bone and gets irritated. It's the bone's way of trying to heal itself, but it does this in a disorganized kind of way, resulting in lumps of tissue that can cause more problems. Oedema is just a fancy word for swelling or fluid accumulation in the knee joint. This is again happening because of the irritation. You also have tears in both of the menisci, which are c-shaped cushions of cartilage on either side of the joint. The medial one, (the one on the inside of your thigh) has gotten pushed out of place (that's what extruded means) and deformed. It seems you also have a tear of the deep part of your MCL, which is a ligament on the inside of your thigh, but your other major ligaments are OK. Joint effusion is another term for fluid or swelling. You have a plica around the outer side of the kneecap, which is just a fold of synovial tissue that some people have, but if I'm interpreting this correctly, it doesn't seem to be inflamed, which is good.
In light of all this, I'd have to say you're going to be looking at surgery, but I'm not an OS, so I can't say for sure what type your OS will suggest. Good luck.
Terre
