Abstract
A careful history taking and clinical examination are required for an adequate diagnosis of meniscal injuries. A combination of meniscal tests has to be performed, in order to improve the poor sensibility and specificity of the single ones. Traumatic knee pain in a young patient should be differentiated from progressive knee pain in a patient over 40 years of age. Standard X-rays, including anteroposterior and lateral views, need to be systematically obtained for the assessment of a traumatic knee injury in a young patient. Nontraumatic knee pain in a patient over 40 years of age should be assessed primarily for osteoarthritis, with bilateral weight-bearing X-rays, including anteroposterior, lateral, and if necessary more specific views to detect early degenerative osteoarthritic changes. While useful diagnostic elements may be derived from X-rays, when the radiographic and clinical findings suggest a meniscal lesion, the study of meniscal tissue should be completed by more sophisticated imaging procedures to confirm the suspect and the surgical indication.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Maria Pia Cumani from Scuola di Disegno Anatomico, Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute, Bologna, Italy, and Elettra Pignotti and Keith Smith from the Task Force of Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute, Bologna, Italy.
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Filardo, G., Andriolo, L., Naouri, J.F., Perdisa, F., Lefevre, N. (2016). Clinical Examination, Standard X-Rays. In: Hulet, C., Pereira, H., Peretti, G., Denti, M. (eds) Surgery of the Meniscus. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-49188-1_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-49188-1_13
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