Evaluation of medial and lateral meniscus thicknesses in early osteoarthritis of the knee with magnetic resonance imaging

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate early changes occurring in both medial and lateral meniscus thickness from the knees of patients with osteoarthritis (OA). METHODS: We conducted this study in the Department of Anatomy and Division of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Kocaeli University, Kocaeli, Turkey during the period 2004 to 2005. In this study, we measured the thickness of the medial and lateral meniscus in a group of 36 (50 knees) consecutive patients with chronic knee pain, and clinical findings of early OA, and 10 (20 knees) control subjects using MRI. RESULTS: The thickness of the posterior horn of the medial meniscus and anterior horn of the lateral meniscus were significantly higher in the OA patients compared with the control subjects. CONCLUSION: This study showed that meniscal degeneration in early stage OA is not evenly distributed in the knee. Thickening of the menisci in some areas may occur due to their own localization and biomechanics.