MRI on my knee - a little help please?

In My Humble Opinion
1

My right knee is not working right. I was referred to an orthopedic surgeon, and he ordered an MRI. The results say:

IMPRESSION:

  1. 10 mm full-thickness cartilage defect medial femoral condyles articular
    surface.
  2. 10 mm intra-articular chondral body posterior joint space. The donor site is
    most likely from the defect in the medial femoral condyle.
  3. Chondromalacia patella. There are regions of at least 75% loss of cartilage
    thickness centered around the median ridge of the patella.

I’m usually pretty good at med speak, but I’m not doing well on this one. Does anyone understand this? I think I’ve got a hole in my cartilage in one spot, and 75% thinning somewhere else. There is also a piece of cartilage swimming around that probably came from the hole.

Is that about it?

I will see the doctor again soon. You are not my doctor.

2

How old are you? Some of that wear and tear is simply age.

3

Get this knee fixed, expect the other one to blow next. I don’t have a clue what all that med-gibberish means for IANAD. But, what you said “My right knee is not working” probably/possibly sums it up.

4

A chondral body is a piece of bone or cartilage that broke off of one of the bones and is floating loose in the joint. They are often called floaters. Some are benign and some will cause damage to the joint. The defect in the medial femoral condyle is where the floater broke off from.

5

To add to **Yllaria’s ** post, what they’ll probably do in all likelihood is perform an arthroscopic surgery to grab that chondral body and remove it so that it doesn’t cause you problems.

Chondromalacia patella is a condition where the cartilage on the back of the kneecap wears away.

6

Thank you everyone. I’ll let you know what the doctor says. I see him tomorrow.

7

This whole thread immediately made all of my joints ache. Thanks for that.

8

I think the other knee is more likely to have problems if this one isn’t fixed. That is, you are probably walking funny to avoid pain, and that affects your other walking joints, especially the other knee and the hips. This is the problem I am having now.

Good luck on a quick and easy fix.

9

Yup, I have the Chrondro etc. I a getting a series of 3 “gel” shots in my left knee now, to make up for the lack of cartilage under the kneecap. Of course the ins. co. made me pay for 4 PT sessions first, but the doc assures me that I am not a candidate for knee replacement.

10

They were going to remove my floater while they were in doing other things*, but in the three weeks between the x-ray and the surgery, it had slipped up into my thigh and was out of reach.

  • high tibial ostiotomy aka bone wedgie, plus some smoothing of feathering cartilage.