Hi dr, i just want to ask ur medical opinion. I am 20 years old male, 1 and half years ago i got left knee meniscus injury probably lateral meniscus. One month after the injury i got better for a while and then the symptom came back untill now. I can walk but i can feel something catching when xtending and flexing my knee, could it be the torn piece of meniscus? i cannot stand for a long time. also a lot of popping sound from the knee, especially when flexing fully. thank you doctor
the symptoms you describe sound like those of a meniscal tear that got bigger over time. get an MRI scan of your knee. minimize weight-bearing & walking/running for now. go see an orthopedic surgeon -- the type who does arthroscopic knee surgery (which i'm willing to bet would be something you're gonna need for your knee).
it's hard to state your prognosis without knowing other data, like how old you are, how active you are, what internal problem is being suspected in your knee & how did you sustain this problem/injury. also, what appears upon doing the scoping matters a lot -- sometimes a different problem is discovered all together once the inside of the joint is revealed.
will the patient's knee cartilage continue to wear out? YES, definitely.
will knee pain return? YES also.
how soon will knee pain return? given that no subchondral bone was yet exposed, and given that it was only the weight-bearing areas that showed cartilage wear, i'd estimate a year's worth of good pain relief. but that's just a rough estimate. progression really depends a lot on how active she'll be from here on.
did she know all this prior to flying here? most definitely YES! ^_^
before some people rise in arms to protest, let me make it clear:
the indication for doing arthroscopy was the meniscal symptoms/signs of the patient's knees -- not the osteoarthritis per se. arthroscopic debridement may alleviate degenerative / inflammatory knee pain, but it does not repair the worn out cartilage. OA is a problem due to cartilage wear&tear, the definitive treatment of which is total joint replacement (arthroplasty).
If this were done in Manila, P45k wouldn't even fully cover the O.R. fee ALONE! (P45k used to be the O.R. fee for arthroscopic meniscectomy procedures under spinal anesthesia in the hospital where I trained in -- but that was back in 2007, when I first started my practice. You can imagine how much that O.R. fee has gone up now, especially with the rapidly rising cost of healthcare in Metro Manila.)
Hi dr, i just want to ask ur medical opinion. I am 20 years old male, 1 and half years ago i got left knee meniscus injury probably lateral meniscus. One month after the injury i got better for a while and then the symptom came back untill now. I can walk but i can feel something catching when xtending and flexing my knee, could it be the torn piece of meniscus? i cannot stand for a long time. also a lot of popping sound from the knee, especially when flexing fully. thank you doctor
mrforest123 3 months ago
@mrforest123
the symptoms you describe sound like those of a meniscal tear that got bigger over time. get an MRI scan of your knee. minimize weight-bearing & walking/running for now. go see an orthopedic surgeon -- the type who does arthroscopic knee surgery (which i'm willing to bet would be something you're gonna need for your knee).
d36u9 3 months ago
@d36u9 iam getting my scope next month, now i am just staying home. what do u think my prognosis would be like?
mrforest123 2 months ago
@mrforest123
it's hard to state your prognosis without knowing other data, like how old you are, how active you are, what internal problem is being suspected in your knee & how did you sustain this problem/injury. also, what appears upon doing the scoping matters a lot -- sometimes a different problem is discovered all together once the inside of the joint is revealed.
d36u9 2 months ago
Thanks for sharing
2mariebl 1 year ago
@2mariebl
you're very much welcome. ^_^
d36u9 1 year ago
will the patient's knee cartilage continue to wear out? YES, definitely.
will knee pain return? YES also.
how soon will knee pain return? given that no subchondral bone was yet exposed, and given that it was only the weight-bearing areas that showed cartilage wear, i'd estimate a year's worth of good pain relief. but that's just a rough estimate. progression really depends a lot on how active she'll be from here on.
did she know all this prior to flying here? most definitely YES! ^_^
d36u9 1 year ago
before some people rise in arms to protest, let me make it clear:
the indication for doing arthroscopy was the meniscal symptoms/signs of the patient's knees -- not the osteoarthritis per se. arthroscopic debridement may alleviate degenerative / inflammatory knee pain, but it does not repair the worn out cartilage. OA is a problem due to cartilage wear&tear, the definitive treatment of which is total joint replacement (arthroplasty).
d36u9 1 year ago
If this were done in Manila, P45k wouldn't even fully cover the O.R. fee ALONE! (P45k used to be the O.R. fee for arthroscopic meniscectomy procedures under spinal anesthesia in the hospital where I trained in -- but that was back in 2007, when I first started my practice. You can imagine how much that O.R. fee has gone up now, especially with the rapidly rising cost of healthcare in Metro Manila.)
d36u9 1 year ago