Longitudinal tear

A longitudinal tear of the meniscus follows the curvature of the crescentic shock absorber that comprises the meniscus.

longitudinal tear of the knee meniscus displaced longitudinal tear of the knee meniscus to show MRI appearance of a longitudinal tear of the meniscus
Significant longitudinal tear of the meniscus - running along in the same direction as the main fibre bundles. Displaced longitudinal tear - or bucket-handle - may cause episodes of catching and locking. To show how the tear would show up on a single MRI 'slice' through the tear (red line).

 

Healing of a longitudinal tear of the meniscus

Longitudinal tears are easier to repair than radial tears. They hold sutures well. If the tear is close to the outer rim where blood supply is good, a tear may often heal by itself.

Synonyms: 
Circumferential tear
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Related Content

Meniscal tears - decisions regarding repair

How the surgeon decides on management.

Types of meniscus tear

Illustrations of the types of tear one might see in the meniscus.

Surgical decision on which meniscal tear to repair

Short overview of how this surgeon decides which meniscal tear to repair

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CLINICAL PUBLICATIONS

The knee meniscus: management of traumatic tears and degenerative lesions. Beaufils P, Becker, R, Kopf S, Matthieu O and Pujol N. EFORT Open Rev. 2017 May; 2(5): 195–203.

Meniscal Preservation is Important for the Knee Joint. Patil SS, Shekhar A and Tapasvi SR. Indian J Orthop. 2017 Sep-Oct; 51(5): 576–587.

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