Meniscus :
Can MRI be wrong - - Posted by absolutemom03 (absolutemom03), 22 November 2004
I had surgery to remove part of my medial meniscus due to tear in jul 03'. Re-injured a couple months later just had mri on fri. results stated no tear but some joint effusion. What does all of this mean? Within 10 min. of standing or walking around my knee hurts very bad and anytime I bend my knee I get the same clicking feeling I had with my last tear, is it possible the mri is wrong? I do not want to sound like the technician who read it is wrong but from the symptoms and pain I have it feels exactly like my last tear I am definiately confused and in pain. Please help me figure this one out, I have an OS appointment next monday so I hope he will try to make my pain go away.
Posted by kporterjud (kporterjud), 22 November 2004
MRIs are not always correct there are tears that don't always show up. If you are symptomatic, then your OS should probably follow up with the physical ROM tests. Hey, you know your body better than anyone & pain doesn't occur just for the heck of it.....
Posted by absolutemom03 (absolutemom03), 22 November 2004
kporterjud thanks for the informaition, I do not necessarily want to have surgery but I cannot keep functioning on a daily basis in pain, I live on a farm and have 3 small boys. Thanks for your info. I will definatelyd discuss my concern with my OS
absolutemom03 
Posted by kporterjud (kporterjud), 22 November 2004
Good luck to you and let me know how it works out.
Posted by absolutemom03 (absolutemom03), 22 November 2004
I will keep u updated
Posted by bwalling (bwalling), 5 December 2004
I read a study from Cornell University that found that cruciate ligament tears were only correctly diagnosed from MRI 70% of the time when read by radiologists, and 58% of the time when read by general physicians.
I don't know if you got a copy of your MRI, but in mine, there are close to 300 images.
Posted by absolutemom03 (absolutemom03), 5 December 2004
I did get my mri pics. back and the radiologist report said everything was fine. OS said no signs on mri so I must have early Arthritis and is treating that even though I have all of the pain and symptoms of another tear!! He said in my first appt. that there were absolutely no signs of arthirtis in the new x-ray and now he is saying I have arthritis. makes me so mad I think I am going to get a 2nd opinion
Posted by hesse (hesse), 6 December 2004
i had a massive medial meniscus tear that was repaired last week that did not show up on the MRI....so they can be wrong!
Posted by sjugradgirl (sjugradgirl), 6 December 2004
I would definitely get a second opinion. MRI's do not always show what is wrong. As with some other experiences I have read, I was in a lot of pain and couldn't bend my leg without pain. The MRI I had done showed I was fine. My OS decided to do a diagnostic artrhroscopy and ended up find tears in my meniscus that weren't seen on the MRI. While he was in there he also cleaned up some roughness. So it was worth it.
My advice go for a second opinion.
Posted by bwalling (bwalling), 9 December 2004
It's not necessarily the MRI that's wrong, just the interpretation. It's very frequent for them to injuries to be missed when reading an MRI.
http://www.ncchta.org/fullmono/mon527.pdf
http://www.rcsed.ac.uk/journal/vol44_1/4410009.htm
Updated Mon Oct 6 2008