In an arthroscopic-MRI correlation study of acute injuries to the knee it was found that anterolateral meniscocapsular separations of the lateral aspect of the knee were missed on MRI reporting. Eighty sports-related injuries of the knee were seen by experienced orthopaedic surgeons at the University of Malaya Medical Centre and at the National Sports Centre, Malaysia from January 1996 to July 1997. Fifty of the patients were suspected to have meniscal tears that were either lateral or medial on clinical examination and they were sent for MRI. Many of these patients were tertiary referrals. Magnetic resonance imaging examinations in 27 of the 50 patients were reported as not showing any intrasubstance or obvious meniscocapsular tears, but arthroscopy performed on them revealed anterolateral meniscocapsular tears of the lateral meniscus of varying degrees in nine of these patients. In retrospect the tears could be seen on MRI, and a pattern to the tears was noted and classified as follows. Type 0, normal; type 1, torn inferior or superior meniscocapsular attachment; type 2, both meniscofemoral and meniscotibial ligaments torn but with minimal separation of meniscus and capsule by fluid or synovitis; and type 3, marked separation of meniscus and capsule by fluid (> 3 mm). Ten patients who did not undergo arthroscopy for various personal and financial reasons underwent MRI which showed type 1 and type 2 tears, and were treated conservatively. These patients were all asymptomatic after 4-6 weeks with regard to clinical signs, suggesting a lateral meniscal tear. Magnetic resonance imaging therefore does reveal minor degrees of meniscocapsular tears anterolaterally when one understands the normal anatomy in this region.
A prospective study of 25 patients with supracondylar and intercondylar fracture of the femur was carried out from January 1999 to June 2003 at SSG Hospital, Baroda, India. Twenty-eight percent fractures were open and 72% were closed. Twelve pecent of the fractures had intraarticular extension. AO classification was used to classify the fractures. Eighty-four percent of the fractures were due to high velocity trauma. All the cases were operated by percutaneous supracondylar nailing. No postoperative complication related to fracture treatment was seen. Average follow up was 20.1 months (range 6-40 months). Average age of the patients was 31.5 years. Average time of union was 3.1 months (range 2-4 months). Average knee range of motion was 117 degrees. Even in open injuries, 85.7% had more than 110 infinity range of motion. All patients could return to their pre-injury lifestyle. Rating scale developed by Hospital for Special Surgery was used to quantify the results. Eighty-four percent showed excellent, 8% showed good and 8% showed fair results. Percutaneous supracondylar nailing is thus, an excellent method of treating fractures of distal femur.