US of the knee :Scanning Techniques,pitfalls with correlation to common Pathological Conditions

Abstract

Background: pain and other disorders of the knee are a common presenting complaint in the ambulatory setting, knee. The benefits of US include portability, low cost, high spatial resolution, dynamic imaging, and ability to guide percutaneous interventions when indicated. US also allows direct patient contact, facilitating immediate clinical correlation and the ability to compare with the contralateral knee. Aim of the Work: to evaluate the ability of US to describe normal anatomy of the Knee, to describe the US techniques for comprehensive evaluation of the knee and to recognize the US appearance of common pathologic conditions, as well as common pitfalls/ mimics of diseasResults: Regarding the demographic characteristics in the studied patients, it was found that the age of patients ranged from 18 to 70 years with mean ±SD was 42.75± 13.1 years and median was 43.5 years. 18 (60%) patients were males and 12 (40%) of them were females with male to female ratio was 1.5:1. Regarding meniscal degeneration among the studied group, we found that the posterior horn is one of the most common areas for degenerative meniscus. Posterior horn medial meniscus degeneration was found in more than half (53.3%) cases while bone tenderness was found in 43 (95.6%) cases while the. Posterior horn lateral meniscus degeneration was found in eight (26.7%) cases.Conclusion: ultrasonography is a useful screening tool for the initial diagnosis of knee pathology. Keywords: Scanning Techniques, Pitfalls, pathological conditions