Prevalence and distribution of the fabella: a radiographic study in Turkish subjects.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study is to examine the plain knee radiographs in Turkish subjects in order to determine the prevalence of the fabella and analyse the differences between age, gender, laterality and its symmetry pattern. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Bilateral antero-posterior and lateral knee radiographs of 500 patients (250 male and 250 female subjects, 1000 knee radiographs) were randomly selected from the clinical database and retrospectively evaluated. Data on patient age, gender, and knee laterality (right-left) were evaluated from hospital records. The differences between the sesamoid bones at a particular location and the side, sex and age groups were analysed. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of the fabella (unilateral or bilateral) was 22.8% (114 subjects). The fabella was present unilaterally in 38 (7.6%) subjects, while it was present bilaterally in 76 (15.2%) subjects. The prevalence of the fabella was similar between the body sides. The prevalence of the fabella was also similar between genders (unilateral or bilateral cases) and age groups. CONCLUSIONS: We examined the prevalence, symmetry pattern, age and gender differences in Turkish population. It is the first study performed on Turkish population with the largest sample in current literature. Prevalence of fabella is found to be 22.8% which is quite similar with other Caucasian ethnic populations.

Prognostic factors affecting the outcome of arthroscopic saucerization in discoid lateral meniscus: a retrospective analysis of 48 cases.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this retrospective study was to evaluate the results and prognostic factors affecting the outcome of arthroscopic saucerization for discoid lateral meniscus (DLM). METHODS: Forty-eight patients who underwent arthroscopic saucerization for DLM between January 2009 and January 2012 in two hospitals were included. There were 21 (43.8%) male and 27 (56.3%) female patients with a mean age of 36.02 ± 14.5 (range 9-65) years at the time of operation. According to Watanabe classification, 33 (68.7%) patients had type II (incomplete) discoid meniscus and 15 (31.3%) had type I (complete) discoid meniscus. Of the 48 patients, 26 (54.2%) had an associated lateral meniscal tear. Seventeen patients (35.4%) had accompanying ligamentous, chondral and/or medial meniscal lesions. The symptoms were present for a mean of 8.04 ± 4.48 (range 1-24) months before the operation. All patients were followed up with a mean of 27.7 ± 10.7 (range 12-47) months using Lysholm knee score. We analyzed the relationship between the outcome variable (Lysholm knee score at the final follow-up) and the predictor variables (age, gender, type of DLM, presence of meniscal tear, duration of symptoms, follow-up and accompanying intra-articular lesions). RESULTS: The mean preoperative Lysholm knee score was 46.6 ± 10.2 points and increased to 85.08 ± 13.45 points at the final follow-up (p = 0.0001). Twenty (41.7%) excellent, seven (14.6%) good, nineteen (39.6%) fair and two (4.2%) poor results have obtained. No complications were observed in any patient. Regression analysis showed that age was the only predictor of the Lysholm score at the final follow-up (R2 = 0.545, p = 0.0001). The linear regression equation was (Lysholm score at final follow-up) = 106.1 - [0.58 × (age of patient)]. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that arthroscopic saucerization is an effective and safe treatment modality for DLM. Furthermore, age of the patient was shown to be the most important prognostic factor over the final clinical outcome. An excellent or a good result can be expected when the patient is young at the time of operation. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: IV.