Discoid medial meniscus

Abstract

A discoid medial meniscus is an extremely rare anomaly. We present 4 cases of symptomatic discoid medial meniscus. Furthermore, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the unaffected knee was obtained in 3 cases, and 1 patient had bilateral discoid medial menisci as well as a unilateral discoid lateral meniscus proven by MRI. Another patient had bilateral discoid medial menisci. In one of the other 2 cases, an MRI of the unaffected knee was not obtained. However, in the involved knees of both cases, medial and lateral menisci were discoid. The incidence of bilateral discoid medial menisci is unknown. In the past, the diagnosis of a discoid meniscus was made with an arthrogram or at arthrotomy. Therefore, whether some of the unilateral cases reported in the literature might have been bilateral is unknown. The reported prevalence of bilateral discoid medial menisci will probably increase, because when a discoid medial meniscus is encountered currently, an MRI is used to find knee disorders, including in the contralateral knee. Axial multiplanar gradient-recalled-echo imaging could provide images of the discoid meniscus, depicted in its entirety in one section. This would make the recognition of a discoid meniscus simple.