Cuerpo extraño intraarticular en rodilla de paciente pediátrico: Resolución artroscópica

Abstract

Intraarticular foreign bodies are unusual entities that can be found in a medical consultation. They can often mimic a meniscal or condral injury by triggering episodes of intense pain and articular locking, most frequently in athletes.  

We present a case of a ten year old girl, who consults with knee pain of four months of evolution. In the anamnesis the patient refers intensification of the pain with knee flexion and episodes of articular locking. She denies recent trauma, but as a remarcable fact she refers that six months before the symptoms appear, she had a domestic accident where she broke through a glass window, getting superficial wounds in her knee.

The anterior-posterior X-Ray showed a radiopaque image in the intercondylar level and the tibial spine that made us suspect an avulsion of it, that’s why a knee MRI was requested but not showing any lesion of the tibial spine or joint. We completed the study with a CT scan that enhanced two intraarticular bodies, glass compatible, in the anterior as well as the posterior area of the lateral compartment. We schedule an arthroscopy to remove both pieces.

In this case report we try to demonstrate the importance of the anamnesis and physical exam when you suspect a pathology, the difficult it can be the diagnosis even counting with complementary imaging, and the surgically demanding that can become finding and removing a glass foreign body in a joint.

Key Words: Glass, Foreign body, Knee, Arthroscopy