Abstract
Objective
The purpose of this study was to assess the frequency and MRI features of a subcutaneous anterior knee mass herniated from the infrapatellar fat pad (IPFP) through a focal defect of the patellar retinaculum (PR).
Materials and methods
This study included 94 patients (44 men; age range, 1–80 years; mean age, 52 years) with clinically palpable subcutaneous anterior knee masses who underwent MRI between January 2007 and July 2022. Two radiologists retrospectively reviewed MRI findings of subcutaneous masses associated with a focal PR defect (location and size of the defect and characteristics of the mass).
Results
Among 94 patients, 15 (16%; 5 men; age range, 49–80 years; mean age, 67 years) had subcutaneous masses herniated from the IPFP through a focal PR defect. The defect was single (13/15, 87%) and more frequently observed in the lateral than in the medial (11/15, 73% vs. 4/15, 27%) PR. The defect occurred in the anterior segment (15/15, 100%) and was more frequently observed in the lower (10/15, 67%) than in the middle (5/15, 33%) and upper portions (0/15, 0%). The mean maximum length of the defect in axial and oblique planes was 14 mm and 25 mm, respectively. The defect-associated subcutaneous masses included lipomatous lesion (6/15, 40%), osteochondromatous lesion (5/16, 33%), and synovial fluid or ganglion cyst (4/15, 27%).
Conclusion
Subcutaneous anterior knee masses were associated with a focal PR defect in 16% cases. The location of a focal PR defect was characterized by the lateral, anterior, and lower segments.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Roemer FW, Jarraya M, Felson DT, Hayashi D, Crema MD, Loeuille D, et al. Magnetic resonance imaging of Hoffa’s fat pad and relevance for osteoarthritis research: a narrative review. Osteoarthr Cartil. 2016;24(3):383–97.
Draghi F, Ferrozzi G, Urciuoli L, Bortolotto C, Bianchi S. Hoffa’s fat pad abnormalities, knee pain and magnetic resonance imaging in daily practice. Insights Imaging. 2016;7(3):373–83.
Thawait SK, Soldatos T, Thawait GK, Cosgarea AJ, Carrino JA, Chhabra A. High resolution magnetic resonance imaging of the patellar retinaculum: normal anatomy, common injury patterns, and pathologies. Skelet Radiol. 2012;41(2):137–48.
Kim JS, Yun SJ, Jin W, Kim GY, Park SY, Park JS, et al. A focal defect at the lateral patellar retinaculum on clinical knee MRI and cadaveric study: a normal variant or pathologic lesion? AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2017;208(5):1103–9.
Moraux A, Bianchi S, Tassery F, Le Corroller T. The lateral patellar retinaculum defect: anatomical study using ultrasound. Skelet Radiol. 2019;48(11):1753–8.
Chauvin NA, Khwaja A, Epelman M, Callahan MJ. Imaging findings of Hoffa’s fat pad herniation. Pediatr Radiol. 2016;46(4):508–12.
Moraux A, Bianchi S, Le Corroller T. Soft tissue masses of the knee related to a focal defect of the lateral patellar retinaculum. J Ultrasound Med. 2018;37(7):1821–5.
Mezian K, Chang KV, Zámečník D, Mezian H, Özçakar L. Herniation of Hoffa’s fat pad through the lateral retinaculum: usefulness of dynamic ultrasonography to diagnose a lateral knee mass. Am J Phys Med Rehabil. 2018;97(11): e113.
Saha P, Bandyopadhyay U, Mukhopadhyay AS, Kundu S, Mandal S. Ganglion Cyst of knee from Hoffa’s fat pad protruding anterolaterally through retinacular rent: a case report. J Orthop Case Rep. 2015;5(3):69–71.
Menzies-Wilson R, Twyman RS. A case report: painful Hoffa’s fat pad herniation. Curr Ortho Pract. 2018; 29(5).
Xu D, Wen J, Zhang S, Pan X. Open synovectomy treatment for intra- and extraarticular localized pigmented villonodular synovitis of the knee: a case report. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2021;22(1):41.
Hashimoto K, Nishimura S, Yamagishi K, Tsukamoto I, Nakagawa K, Inoue S, et al. Extra-articular synovial osteochondroma of the Hoffa’s fat pad involving the patellar tendon: a case report and literature review. Mol Clin Oncol. 2020;12(4):355–7.
Mediouni M, D RS, Madry H, Cucchiarini M, Rai B. A review of translational medicine. The future paradigm: how can we connect the orthopedic dots better? Curr Med Res Opin. 2018; 34(7):1217–1229.
Mediouni M, Madiouni R, Gardner M, Vaughan N. Translational medicine: challenges and new orthopaedic vision (Mediouni-Model). Curr Orthop Pract. 2020; 31(2).
Peterfy CG, Guermazi A, Zaim S, Tirman PF, Miaux Y, White D, et al. Whole-Organ Magnetic Resonance Imaging Score (WORMS) of the knee in osteoarthritis. Osteoarthr Cartil. 2004;12(3):177–90.
Kanda Y. Investigation of the freely available easy-to-use software “EZR” for medical statistics. Bone Marrow Transplant. 2013;48(3):452–8.
Landis JR, Koch GG. The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data. Biometrics. 1977;33(1):159–74.
Wen DW, Tan TJ, Rasheed S. Synovial haemangioma of the knee joint: an unusual cause of knee pain in a 14-month old girl. Skelet Radiol. 2016;45(6):827–31.
Albergo JI, Gaston CL, Davies M, Abudu AT, Carter SR, Jeys LM, et al. Hoffa’s fat pad tumours: what do we know about them? Int Orthop. 2013;37(11):2225–9.
Larbi A, Viala P, Cyteval C, Snene F, Greffier J, Faruch M, et al. Imaging of tumors and tumor-like lesions of the knee. Diagn Interv Imaging. 2016;97(7–8):767–77.
Horga LM, Hirschmann AC, Henckel J, Fotiadou A, Di Laura A, Torlasco C, et al. Prevalence of abnormal findings in 230 knees of asymptomatic adults using 3.0 T MRI. Skeletal Radiol. 2020;49(7):1099–107.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Kawaguchi, M., Kato, H., Kobayashi, K. et al. MRI features of subcutaneous anterior knee mass associated with a focal defect of the patellar retinaculum. Skeletal Radiol 52, 743–749 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00256-022-04224-0
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00256-022-04224-0