Dynamic Magnetic Resonance Imaging Protocol: An Effective and Useful Tool to Assess Discoid Lateral Meniscus Instability in Children

Objectives: One of the most common symptoms in cases of discoid lateral meniscus (DLM) in children is a “snapping” knee. The clock in extension, followed by a pop in flexion, perceived by the clinician, reflects the meniscal displacement caused by the peripheral meniscocapsular detachment. Standard magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) results in a 40% false-negative rate for detecting this instability. The hypothesis was that a dynamic MRI protocol could reduce the false negative rate and improve the efficiency of the MRI in detecting the direction of instability. Methods: Eight DLM knees (8 patients) with snapping knees (grade 2 of Lyon’s classification) were included in this monocentric prospective preliminary study in a referral center of pediatric orthopaedic surgery. Every patient underwent a dynamic MRI protocol with both T2-Fat-Sat sagittal and coronal slices, performed “after the clock” and again “after the pop” in a knee with standard 20 degrees of flexion during acquisition. All the MRI data were correlated with an arthroscopic description of the peripheral tear of the DLM according to Ahn’s classification to assess for diagnostic accuracy. Results: The standard MRI protocol resulted in a false-negative rate of 50% for detecting the direction of instability. The dynamic MRI protocol allowed the identification of, and classification of the meniscal instability, meniscal shift, and meniscocapsular tear in 8 of 8 patients (0% false-negative rate), perfectly correlated with arthroscopic findings. Conclusion: This preliminary series, although short, allowed us to understand all the types of movements and lesions associated with the child’s discoid meniscus. The detailed case analysis showed a strong benefit of such a protocol for planning the surgical suture procedure. The functionality and reliability of the dynamic MRI protocol is a good and method relatively simple method which does not require specific equipment, minimizing any additional cost compared with standard MRI. Level of Evidence: Level IV.