The Knee

Medical Imaging of the Knee

Plain x-rays are a very useful first line investigation, often performed to demonstrate the presence or absence of significant arthritis, but also useful for the identification of loose fragments of bone and other less common conditions such as osteochondritis dissecans and Osgood-Schlatter’s disease.

MRI scanning is available at the Nuffield Health Tunbridge Wells Hospital, The Spire Hospital Tunbridge Wells, The Horder Centre in Crowborough, the Tunbridge Wells Hospital in Pembury, and at other local and regional MRI scanning suites including those in Sevenoaks and the City and West End of London. MRI scanning of the knee, which takes around twenty minutes, produces high quality images of both the bones and the soft tissues within the joint.   It is particularly good at imaging the shock absorbing meniscal cartilages and also demonstrates reasonably well the supporting ligaments around the joint, but it is not quite as good at demonstrating injuries to the articular or chondral cartilage.