Meniscus :
Decipher Knee Examination - - Posted by fredpa16 (fredpa16), 17 December 2004
I am experiencing pain in my left knee. I am 55 years old and active, jogging and mountain biking. My knee pain is preventing me from excerising. I got a mri with the following conclusion. "Fraying of the apical free edge of the body and posterior horn and scuffing of the inferior articulating surface of the posterior horn of the medial meniscus" Doctor says normal degenerative changes. But I'm still in too much pain to excercise. Can anything else be done except taking pain relieving medication? Thank you
Posted by dm (dm), 18 December 2004
I don't know if a scope to clean up the frayed stuff is advisable or not, you might consider another opinion on it. A cortisone shot might give you some relief for a while, but if the pain goes away with the shot then returns, that's a sign of something wrong.
I would surmise that "fraying" means loose bits still attached, like a string hanging off one's shirttail, so why the doc thinks there's nothing unusual there, or nothing to be done, I don't know, as I'm no doc. I would be wondering why they couldn't trim what's frayed, to keep the frayed bits from aggrivating things more??
My suggestion, get another opinion, if you don't like the live with it option.
Posted by nmcbride (nmcbride), 22 December 2004
Hi,
I had similar problems just recently and my OS took me in for an arthroscopic meniscectomy and debridement, he trimmed away all the frayed bits, cleaned up the whole knee and washed it out to remove any loose bodies. Maybe it depends on the extent of the damage before they will consider this, I don't know. Might be worth mentioning trimming to your OS and see what he says about it. Mine did help with the pain, although I still have a lot of pain its definitely better than it was before the op. Good luck.
Natalie.
Updated Tue Dec 2 2008