Bone bruise patterns in knee injuries: where are they found?
OBJECTIVE
Bone bruise represents an entity of occult bone lesions that can occur in the knee, causing knee pain and tenderness clinically. The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence and pattern of bone bruising seen in the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury cohort, the non-ACL injury cohort, and between both cohorts.


METHODS
We reviewed 710 knee magnetic resonance imagings performed over a 6-month period. Eighty-eight patients with prior history of a knee injury were identified. The mechanism of injury and other clinical findings was noted.


RESULTS
Among these 88 patients, 58 patients had an associated ACL injury (31 had isolated ACL injuries; 27 had combined ACL and other ligamentous injuries). Among the 30 who had non-ACL injuries, 15 had either an MCL, LCL, or PCL injury. The remaining 15 patients had no associated ligament injury. With an ACL injury, the most common bone bruise sites are the lateral femur (74%) and lateral tibia (64%). Without an ACL injury, the pattern of bruising was more common in the lateral femur (69%) and medial tibia (37%).


CONCLUSIONS
Bone bruises are important as previous studies have shown that they can cause persistent knee pain. Our study has shown that there are differences in pattern of bone bruising in knee injuries with or without ACL injuries.
Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore, chinyuincheng@gmail.com.
Yuin Cheng
YC
Chin
Ramesh
R
Wijaya
Le Roy
le R
Chong
Haw Chong
HC
Chang
Yee Han Dave
YH
Lee
D000328:Adult; D016118:Anterior Cruciate Ligament / Q000473:pathology; D000070598:Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries; D018771:Arthralgia / Q000209:etiology; D003288:Contusions / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D005269:Femur / Q000293:injuries / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007718:Knee Injuries / Q000473:pathology*; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000473:pathology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013977:Tibia / Q000293:injuries / Q000473:pathology