posted
I stumped a medical professional, and it wasn’t even a general practitioner. Let’s see what you all say, and I’ll give the answer when I have it.
Background: Recently, while playing Racquetball, I dislocated my knee (lower right leg bent inwards at a perpendicular angle, in other words, it would have been pointing towards my left knee). This is second time this has happened (an old injury is likely responsible.) So after I reset my knee by forcing it straight with me left leg, I hobbled around for a good three weeks before acknowledging I probably did something very bad, and sought medical help. X-Rays revealed that all bones were intact and in the proper places, and judging by symptoms and range of forced motion, the verdict from my orthopedic surgeon was that I likely had torn my ACL, and as a secondary effect, a meniscus disc. So off for MRIs I went to see if this was the case, and how pressing ACL replacement should be. That was in October. The imaging center sent my MRIs over January 2nd. I thought they lost them, but this was only partially true.
The prognosis for this injury was really the best it could be. My ACL is in fact entirely intact (to the amazement of my OS). The meniscus disc is torn, but that’s simple orthoscopic surgery at my leisure. Now the mystery, and what was some of the cause of the MRI delay.
The MRIs showed a marble sized black spot directly behind my patella. It honestly looked so perfectly round; I thought it was a fluke. That was until I saw it on pretty much all the MRIs. The OS checked the X-rays, and sure enough, whatever it is happens to be dense enough to show up on those as well, but is fairly faint and easy to miss if you don’t know what you’re looking for. So, I officially have a marble sized (1.5 cm spherical) mystery in my knee that stumped my orthopedic surgeon. He provided a list of possibilities (cartilage, lesion, tendon, cancer, and so on) but would not venture to guess what it was. So I’m being sent on to an internal joint specialist. Before the MRI (and even now), I had no clue it was there. It causes no pain, nor interferes with my knee’s operation.
So, who wants to guess what it is? Guess right (with reasoning behind the guess), and I’ll buy you a coke at a Hatracker picnic.
posted
I'd guess it is an extra sesamoid bone, as these tend to form in tendons and at areas of repetitive use, but your orthopedist would have included that on the list if it had been of the proper density on the scan.
[ January 07, 2005, 06:04 PM: Message edited by: Sara Sasse ]
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posted
Feyd, I would guess Sara is exactly right. The assumption that any orthopedist would have known what it was if it was the right density is what I would take a wild guess is not necessarily true. Sara is a whiz diagnostician, which in my experience is extremely rare. I suggest you ask your orthopedist if he or she thinks it could possibly be an extra sesamoid bone.
Whatever it is, I hope they get your knee back working right again soon.
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posted
It's entirely possible that Sesamoid Bone was on the list of possibilities and I just forgot it, mostly because it was a word that meant less to me at the time. I know he mentioned tendons a few times, so that seems like it may have been there. So where does one's genetic makeup get instructions to grow something that large without it being somewhat more common? And would my other knee have one I wonder? I'll have to check the X-Rays since they cover both knees.
Feyd Baron, DoC
Oh, and alien technology has already been guessed. By several other people.
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Shigosei I told him almost the exact same thing last night! He just refuses to listen to reason.
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If it's an alien device, these must be aliens who pick devices based on their retro styling rather than a functional low profile.
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posted
I third what Sara said, I read a lot about those when I was researching my wrist. At any rate, Get Well Soon!
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posted
There were so many other jokes I expected to be made... And I was hoping someone might make an elaboration on what sort of lesion could cause this (that was the orthopedists first guess), I just forgot the medical name for it.
Looking into Sesamoids, it seems the most common place for those to develop is on the back of the knee joint. Is there even a tendon that runs on the inside of the patells for one to develop in?
posted
The patella is embedded in a tendon. There is tendinous material all around it. It, in fact, is a large sesamoid bone.
I'm afraid I'm hesitant to speculate, since ther is so much information that we all don't have access to. Knowing the density of the material on X-ray and MRI (in comparison to surrounding known tissues) would be huge. Without that, it's a bit of a blind guess. Since it sounds like you are already in good hands, I'd hate to unknowingly lead you astray.
[ January 09, 2005, 12:43 PM: Message edited by: Sara Sasse ]
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posted
I knew the patella is a sesamoid bone, but I thought the tendon was primarily across the front of it. But I certainly don't know the knee that well. On the X-rays, the density seems to be between 1/2 and 3/4 as dense as the patella, it's quite noticeable even through the patella. On the MRI, it's black; there is very little gradient in it. Having not seen MRIs before, I don't know what that means exactly in terms of density.
Yeah, hopefully I can get in to see the specialist in the next few weeks.
posted
You sure it's your right knee and not a pain down your entire left side? Maybe you should be requesting for it to be replaced...
Sorry, that was horrible and I couldn't think of a towel joke. But as long as you stay away from those excercise bikes I bet you'll be better than fine. Satyagraha
posted
Is a sesamoid bone the same as a bone cyst?
I had one of those when i was about 16. It was growing into my knee from the underside of my patella. If left unchecked it would've siezed my knee completely, apparently.
So know I have a left kneecap that is predominantly made up of bone that was once a portion of my left hip.
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posted
It's a tiny alien waiting to burst out of your knee.
If you think the jokes you're getting are bad, be glad you haven't had a cat scan of your head that showed a small gaseous pocket in your brain. Then you'd have to get used to people calling you an air head. Posts: 5879 | Registered: Apr 2001
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