Intraarticular osteochondroma of the knee

Osteochondromas are usually extra articular and grow away from the joint towards the diaphysis. Intraarticular osteochondromas are very rare and often misdiagnosed. We report a case of 16-year-old boy who presented with pain and clicking sound in the right knee for last 6 months. On examination, click was felt at the terminal flexion of the knee. The lateral radiograph of the right knee showed a radio opaque shadow at the posterior aspect of the distal end of femur, which was further evaluated with an MRI. Arthroscopy showed a hard lesion arising from the roof of the intercondylar notch of femur. It was excised arthroscopically. Histopathology revealed it to be an osteochondroma. Thus, intraarticular osteochondroma of the knee can be considered as a rare cause of pain in young patients.     

Intraarticular meniscal cysts of the knee

Summary Two cases of unusual location of meniscal cysts were encountered in a large series of arthroscopies of the knee. These cysts were entirely intraarticular in relation to the substance of the lateral meniscus but without any joint line swelling or overt evidence of their presence. The cysts probably accounted for the symptoms of internal derangement of the knee and are likely to be encountered more often with increased used of knee arthroscopy.

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Résumé Au cours de 1160 arthroscopies nous avons découvert 16 kystes méniscaux. Nous présentons deux cas de kystes méniscaux intra-articulaires avec des symptômes discrets de blocage et de «douleur antérieure du genou». Dans ces deux cas le diagnostic n'a été fait que grâce à l'arthroscopie.

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Reprint requests to: J. Passler     

Intraarticular methylprednisolone acetate in knee arthrotomy

Ninety-eight arthrotomy patients undergoing meniscectomy were given intraoperative intraarticular methylprednisolone (40 mg) or placebo using double-blind technique and were evaluated clinically at three days, two weeks, four weeks, eight weeks, and twelve weeks after operation. Patients who received methylprednisolone showed small but statistically significant accelerated rehabilitation time with respect to subjectively evaluated pain and range of motion, through two weeks after operation. After two weeks, there was no further advantage over placebo through 12 weeks of rehabilitation.     

Intraarticular sufentanil administration facilitates recovery after day-case knee arthroscopy

We evaluated the efficacy of intraarticular sufentanil in the prevention of postoperative pain after day-case arthroscopic procedures. Sixty patients were randomly assigned to receive either intraarticular sufentanil, 5 or 10 microg, and saline IV, or intraarticular saline and sufentanil 5 microg IV (control). All study medication was administered in a double-blinded fashion. Postoperatively and the day after surgery, pain levels at rest and during movement (i.e., active flexion of the knee), measured by a visual analog scale, were significantly lower in the Sufentanil groups compared with the Control group. Moreover, intraarticular sufentanil significantly reduced the postoperative consumption of analgesics. The time until discharge from the postanesthesia care unit (assessed by the Aldrete score) was significantly shorter in the patients receiving sufentanil intraarticularly. There were no significant differences between the two Sufentanil groups either in the intensity of postoperative pain or in discharge times from the postanesthesia care unit. We conclude that intraarticular sufentanil in arthroscopic knee procedures is a simple, effective, safe and well-tolerated analgesic technique for outpatients undergoing arthroscopic procedures. Increasing the dose sufentanil from 5 to 10 microg intraarticularly offered no additional advantage. Intraarticular sufentanil (5-10 microg) administration improves postoperative management after day-case diagnostic arthroscopic knee procedures. IMPLICATIONS: Intraarticular sufentanil (5-10 microg) administration improves postoperative management after day-case diagnostic arthroscopic knee procedures.     

Intraarticular pressure during continuous passive motion of the human knee

Intraarticular pressure (IAP) was continuously monitored during continuous passive motion (CPM) of five normal and 11 abnormal human knees using a new fiberoptic, transducer-tipped Camino catheter. IAP varied in a consistent hysteresis pattern in the normal knees, with subatmospheric pressures recorded at intermediate angles of joint flexion. A similar pattern was recorded in the abnormal knees without cruciate ligament pathology, whereas considerable variability was noted in the knees with cruciate ligament abnormality. IAP was lower in the extension to flexion than in the flexion to extension portion of the CPM cycle, providing evidence of intraarticular fluid flow during portions of the CPM cycle. IAP changes were consistent with "physiologic compartmentation" within the knee at extremes of joint position. Capsular viscoelastic changes and/or synovial fluid volume changes were observed during CPM. The therapeutic mechanism of continuous passive motion may be related to cyclic variation of the intraarticular pressure.     

Intraarticular, epidural, and intravenous analgesia after total knee arthroplasty

BACKGROUND: After total knee arthroplasty, patients regularly suffer from severe pain. It is unclear whether epidural or systemic pain therapy is superior in terms of postoperative pain relief, patients' comfort and side effects. A new therapeutic approach, intraarticular opioids, has been suggested with the detection of opioid receptors in inflamed tissue. This method has proven suitable for clinical use in small operations (e.g. knee arthroscopy). In this study, we compared epidural analgesia and intraarticular application of morphine plus "on-demand" intravenous analgesia to "on-demand" intravenous analgesia alone. METHODS: Thirty-seven patients, scheduled for total knee arthroplasty, were randomly assigned to three treatment groups: in group 1 (EPI) patients received bolus doses of morphine via an epidural catheter; in group 2 (IA) an intraarticular bolus of 1 mg of morphine was applied at the end of the operation with subsequent use of a patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) pump; group 3 (Control), in which only PCA was provided, served as control for both analgesic procedures. Main outcome measures included visual analogue pain scales, total morphine consumption, and stress hormones. RESULTS: No statistically significant differences in visual analogue pain scales could be detected between the three groups. Application of intraarticular morphine did not reduce the amount of analgesics required for postoperative analgesia as compared to intravenous analgesia alone. Application of epidural morphine significantly suppressed beta-endorphine release, but did not significantly influence other stress hormones as compared to the control group. CONCLUSION: Epidural and intravenous analgesia after total knee arthroplasty are equivalent methods of pain relief. In major orthopaedic procedures, application of intraarticular morphine does not reduce analgesic requirements.     

Intraarticular fentanyl compared with morphine for pain relief following arthroscopic knee surgery

PURPOSE: To compare the analgesia produced by comparable doses of intra-articular (IA) morphine and fentanyl. METHODS: Sixty-nine healthy patients undergoing arthroscopic surgery received a standardized general anesthetic of 4 mg x kg(-1) thiopental and 2 microg x kg(-1) fentanyl followed by 2 mg x kg(-1) succinylcholine prior to tracheal intubation and controlled ventilation. Maintenance of anesthesia was achieved with N2O/O2 and isoflurane. At the conclusion of surgery intra-articular injection was: Group I (n=23) 50 microg fentanyl in 20 ml saline; Group II (n=24) 3 mg morphine in 20 ml saline; Group III (n=22) 20 ml saline. Pain scores at rest using a visual analogue scale were recorded by a separate blinded observer at one, two, four, and eight hours postoperatively. RESULTS: Pain scores at one, two, four, and eight hours were 36, 26.3, 20.9, and 12.8 vs 35.8, 33.8, 28.8, and 21.9 vs 70.5, 57.7, 58.4, and 53.6 for the IA-fentanyl, IA-morphine, and control groups respectively. Pain scores were greater at all times for Group III. Pain scores for Groups I and II were similar at one hour, but thereafter were less (P < 0.001) for the IA-fentanyl group. CONCLUSION: Better postoperative analgesia was achieved with 50 microg intraarticular fentanyl than with 3 mg intraarticular morphine.     

Intraarticular morphine for pain relief after knee arthroscopy performed under regional anaesthesia

Eighty patients scheduled to undergo knee arthroscopy were studied in random and double blind fashion. Spinal anaesthesia with hyperbaric 0.5% bupivacaine was selected for 40 overnight–in–patients. At the end of arthroscopy, 1 mg morphine or saline was injected intraarticularly. Local anaesthesia with 1% lidocaine plus adrenaline, was selected for another 40 out–patients. At the end of the arthroscopy either 1 mg morphine or saline was injected intraarticularly. As a rescue medication the spinal anaesthesia patients received oxycodone 0.14 mg kg^-1 i.m. or ketoprofen 100 mg p.o. and the local anaesthesia patients received ketoprofen 100 mg p.o. The need for additional postoperative analgesic was almost similar in both spinal anaesthesia groups. The patients having local anaesthesia and given intraarticular morphine needed fewer doses of ketoprofen (22 doses) postoperatively than the control group (39 doses) ( P < 0.05). Duration of analgesia was slightly longer after morphine than in the control group (ns). There was no difference between the morphine patients and the control patients in the two studies regarding the incidence of side effects. We conclude that postoperative analgesia in patients undergoing knee arthroscopy under local anaesthesia, but not under bupivacaine spinal anaesthesia, can be improved with a single intraarticular injection of 1 mg morphine.     

膝关节半月板囊肿的微创治疗

[目的]探讨膝关节半月板囊肿的微创治疗方法。[方法]2009年1月~2014年12月,对36例膝关节半月板囊肿行关节镜下囊肿切除,硬膜外穿刺针引导2号骨科缝线由外向内缝合消除囊肿的残腔,皮外的缝线用硬膜外穿刺针引导至一个针孔,皮下打结。[结果]36例患者获得随访,随访时间2~7年,无1例囊肿复发,按国际膝关节评分委员会(IKDC)膝关节功能评分,手术前为(69.7±3.8)分,末次随访为(96.5±4.2)分,36例结果均为优。[结论]关节镜下囊肿切除、硬膜外穿刺针引导骨科缝线微创治疗半月板囊肿治疗效果满意,不仅去除了囊肿,还保留了半月板结构,从而减少了继发性骨性关节炎的风险。     

Trigeminal pain caused by a parapontine epidermal cyst

A case of trigeminal neuralgia caused by a parapontine epidermal cyst is reported. The trigeminal inlet zone at the pons was completely surrounded by the tumor. No vascular element was detected around the trigeminal nerve root. Neurological symptoms were completely normal except for typical tic douloureux. Pain was controlled initially by carbamazepine, later by radiofrequency trigeminal nerve coagulation, and finally by microsurgical decompression. Review of the literature suggested the importance of lesions of the middle fossa as another etiological factor. When surgery is performed by the posterior route, the possibility of overlooking these lesions may exist.     

Intermetatarsophalangeal bursitis induced by a plantar epidermal cyst

A 44-year-old woman was admitted to the authors' institution for evaluation of two masses in the right forefoot. Standard radiographs showed foci of calcification within the mass. Magnetic resonance imaging and macroscopic findings during surgery revealed the lesion was composed mainly of two different portions: dorsal cystic masses and a solid mass in the plantar side of the fifth metatarsal head. Histologic and immunohistochemical examinations showed that the former was an intermetatarsophalangeal bursitis induced by keratinous material, whereas the latter was a ruptured epidermal cyst. To the best of the authors' knowledge, the current case is the first report of intermetatarsophalangeal bursitis caused by an untreated epidermal cyst.     

Chondromatosis within a meniscal cyst of the knee

A 32-year-old man complained of left gonalgia for 2 years and noticed a soft tumor on the lateral side of his left knee. Roentgenograms showed some small calcified shadows at the same site of the tumor. Arhtroscopy revealed a lateral meniscus to be an incomplete discoid with degenerative tears. A the operation, a multilocular soft part tumor was noticed in continuity with the lateral meniscus macroscopically. Small, loose bodies and gelatinous fluid were found in the cavity of the tumor. Histologically loose bodies were chondroma and the soft part tumor was meniscal cyst. The meniscal cyst wall contained hyaline cartilagenous tissue. Therefore it was thought that chondroma originated from the cyst wall.