title: The morel-lavallée lesion as a rare differential diagnosis for recalcitrant bursitis of the knee: case report and literature review.
abstract: A 72 year-old-male was referred to our institution with recalcitrant prepatellar bursitis. The injury was sustained after striking his right knee against a post whilst horse riding 9 months ago. Previous treatments included repeated aspiration and excision of the bursa with elastic compression bandaging. A diagnosis of a Morel-Lavallée internal degloving injury was made, and the lesion was satisfactorily managed by an internal quilting procedure to eliminate the potential dead space. A review of the literature reveals 29 published reports of Morel-Lavallée lesions with sufficient information for inclusion. These came from 14 separate countries with a total of 204 lesions in 195 patients. The most common anatomical location was the greater trochanter/hip (36%), followed by the thigh (24%) and the pelvis (19%). Most were managed surgically with evacuation of the haematoma and necrotic tissue followed by debridement, which was often repeated (36%). Conservative treatment with percutaneous aspiration and compression bandaging was the next most common treatment (23%). The knee was the fourth most common region affected (16%), and only 3 other lesions in the literature have been managed with a quilting procedure.
authors: Department of Orthopaedics, University College Hospital, 235 Euston Road, London NW1 2BU, UK.
authors: Ivor S
authors: IS
authors: Vanhegan
authors: B
authors: B
authors: Dala-Ali
authors: L
authors: L
authors: Verhelst
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Mallucci
authors: Fares S
authors: FS
authors: Haddad