A patient presenting with knee pain is a regular complaint in primary care1. The knee joint itself is commonly affected by osteoarthritis (OA), especially in those over the age of 50. Patients presenting to clinics have an initial consultation involving the history of the complaint, examination and relevant investigations2. Often a clinician’s main findings include pain localising to the medial or lateral side, joint line tenderness, locking of the knee, particularly on squatting, and a positive McMurray’s test. Currently the first line investigation for the diagnosis of osteoarthritis is plain radiographs, which provide a sensitivity of 88% and a specificity of 84%3.
MRI of the knee is an important diagnostic tool in the detection of meniscal tears. It is considered to have a sensitivity and specificity of 88-92%. Horizontal/cleavage tears occur parallel to the tibial plateau involving one of...
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