Please Help me understand the results of a MRI of my left knee - Knee & Hip Problems Message Board

twina77 · 03-29-2009, 05:29 AM

Hello everybody I need some help understanding my MRI results, let me give you a little bit of background first I am a 31 year old female who is not and has not been much of an exerciser since my high school days I am not over weight I am 5'4 and weigh 144 lbs. Back in January I got up out of bed and my knee was so stiff I couldnt even fully straighten my leg, I am a manager at a restaraunt and am on my feet a lot I just chalked it up to working too much after a few days of this I started to worry my Neice who is 2 years older than I was diagnosed with RA a year ago so I had my family Dr do the blood work for that it all came back negative. After 2 months of my knee like this I went back to my family Dr and asked for a MRI I knew something was wrong but didnt know what my left knee for the past 3 months was stiff and swollen and I still can not fully extend my leg when walking so I have a sort of limp and if I do happen to extend my leg the pain I experience is a nightmare, when I get out of bed or if I have sat for longer than 10 min I can not walk without the pain and stiffness. My Dr called and left me a message that stated " Your MRI showed there is some soft tissue damage I would now refer you to a orthopedic Dr here is the number" as you can imagine I am confused she did not give me any details. The following is what the report from my MRI states:

There is mild femorotibial chondrosis. There is chondromalacia patella, lateral facet, and apex.

Impression: Mild multifocal chondral damage. Remainder of knee intact.

If Anyone can explain what all this means I would so greatly appreciate it, I did call the Ortho and he wants to see me on Wed, I would also like to know what I can possibly expect. Is this a lot of damage? Does it normally require surgery? Thank you in advance for any help with this, I have made myself sick worrying about it.

janewhite1 · 03-29-2009, 08:26 AM

Chondro = cartilage. You have mildly damaged cartilage around the end of the femur (thigh bone), the top of the tibia (shinbone) and under the patella (kneecap.)

He might want to do surgery to neaten up the damage and encourage it to heal, or he might try something else first, I couldn't possibly say.

kneepain · 03-30-2009, 03:58 PM

Disclaimer: Do not take this as medical advice, take it with a grain of salt, wait to see what PCP and orthopaedic surgeon say about treatment after evaluation, BUTTTT... here are my 2 cents:

MRI findings probably mean you've got wear and tear arthritis, no surgery for now, you can try glucosamine/chondroitin and physical therapy to strengthen muscles around the knee to delay inevitable total knee replacement you'll need many, many yrs from now.

You didn't say if you had any trauma/injury to knee. Have you had any? It's unusual for you to have such "widespread" arthritis at such an early age w/o injury. Given autoimmune arthritis has been virtually r/o by your PCP (has it?), this may mean you've been blessed with bad genes, as family history definately plays a role in development of arthritis.

On the bright side, it's important to note the pertinent negatives on your MRI. Your sx at your age represent acute injury/trauma, which would show up as a ligament sprain, meniscus tear, etc on MRI, but if you read your report more closely they probably comment that your acl/pcl, lcl/mcl are intact w/o disruption, no meniscus tears noted, GREAT NEWS! No acute surgical intervention necessary.

twina77 · 03-31-2009, 07:11 PM

hi thanks so much for those of you that have replied, I wanted to address a thing or two that was pointed out that I failed to include in my original post, my knee pain is due to an injury in late Jan I feel on some ice at the time it hurt but not as bad as it does now, I fear that not seeking treatment at the time has made the injury worse. My Dr has ruled out RA through blood work and a hand x ray. I have read alot on here about people doing PT to strengthen the knee and have also read that for most this has made the pain worse than before, the thing with PT that I am most afraid of is I can not fully straighten my leg when I try to do so when my knee gets to a certain point it feels as if something inside is pulling and then the pain starts to really kick in. The MRI report does state that the ligamnets etc..are all intact. I guess I am just really hopeing this is going to be something that will fix quik I have a partially torn ACL in my right knee due to an injury recieved 5 years ago my then Ortho did the PT and it didnt help I have just grown use to the pain in that knee it is really frustrating with that one it hurts to bend it too far and the left one it hurts to straighten, I am just falling apart

janewhite1 · 03-31-2009, 07:14 PM

Unable to straighten could be just due to swelling.

The thing about PT is, you have to be very vocal. You have to be willing to say, this hurts, stop.