Inner knee pain: an imaging assessment

The anatomical classification of the traumatic or non traumatic lesion give s a mnemotechnical list which assists in the etiological search for pain of the inner aspect of the knee: skin, sub cutaneous tissue, medial lateral l igament, meniscus, cartilage, sub chondral bone, cruciate ligaments. Each mean of imaging detect specific lesions according to its technical cap abilities: standard X Ray film, arthrography, CT scanner, MRI, bone scintig raphy, and echography. In practice, strategy is adapted to the clinical presentation, traumatic or non traumatic. In emergency situations, one is looking for bone, ligamentous, and meniscus lesions. Without acute traumatism, one can discover ligamentous tear sequellae (Pell igrini Stieda's ossifications), transient osteoporosis (algodystrophy), deg enerative lesions (arthrosis) of the inner compartment. Always remember "close to the knee", it is necessary to check for more seri ous infectious or tumoral pathology. If standard plain films remain the first means of examination, and are stil i useful, MRI is becoming increasingly necessary for a complete anatomical evaluation.