Osteochondritis dissecans of the knee: Imaging, instability concept, and criteria

Franck Accadbled; Marco Turati; Mininder S Kocher

doi:10.1177/18632521221149054

Osteochondritis dissecans of the knee: Imaging, instability concept, and criteria

J Child Orthop. 2023 Feb;17(1):47-53. doi: 10.1177/18632521221149054. Epub 2023 Jan 28.

Authors

Franck Accadbled¹, Marco Turati^{2

3

4}, Mininder S Kocher⁵

Affiliations

¹ Service d'Orthopédie, Hôpital des Enfants, CHU de Toulouse, Toulouse, France.
² Orthopedic Department, San Gerardo Hospital, Monza, Italy.
³ School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, Monza, Italy.
⁴ Transalpine Center of Pediatric Sports Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca - Hospital Couple Enfant, Monza (Italy), Grenoble, France.
⁵ Division of Sports Medicine, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.

Abstract

Osteochondritis dissecans of the knee is an idiopathic, focal, subchondral-bone abnormality that can cause instability or detachment of a bone fragment and overlying articular cartilage, with subsequent progression to osteoarthritis. The degree of lesion instability is best assessed by magnetic resonance imaging. Unstable lesions require operative management with fragment fixation. Level of evidence: V.

Keywords: MRI; Osteochondritis dissecans; adolescent; instability; knee; sports.

Publication types

Review