As I mentioned on Monday, the MRI results are in. A tear of the medial meniscus, and a ganglion cyst on the lateral aspect of the knee. This morning, I finally met with the doctor to go over the results and talk about options.

It is the doctor’s opinion that we finally found the culprit. The culprit is (in the words of the radiologist) a complex tear of the posterior horn of the medial meniscus. The MRI results were a complete surprise to the doctor, given how the pain initially presented (on the lateral side of the knee). The doctor thinks this was the problem all along, not ITBS, and that the pain on the outside of the knee was due to compensating for the tear on the inside of the knee. It is also possible that the cyst is responsible for some of the pain.

The tear is in the avascular region of the meniscus, and thus can’t be repaired, due to a lack of blood to the area. Instead, the doctor will perform a partial meniscectomy, preserving as much of the meniscus as he can. He will also take a look around the rest of the knee, including the lateral meniscus, where he thinks he’ll find some stuff to clean up there. Doc thinks there is something there, and is likely the cause of the ganglion cyst. He will attempt to “pop” the cyst, rather than remove it completely, because it is under the lateral collateral ligament and the peroneal nerve, and he doesn’t want to risk damage to either of those.

As the title of this post indicates, I scheduled arthroscopic knee surgery for next Tuesday, pending pre-cert from my insurance company. I’ve got to get some pre-op lab work done tomorrow, then it is just a short wait until this knee issue is hopefully resolved. Of course, after the surgery, it will be about 4 weeks and several physical therapy sessions until I am ready to even think about returning to normal activity levels.