Published online Jun 18, 2017. doi: 10.5312/wjo.v8.i6.484
Peer-review started: October 23, 2016
First decision: December 20, 2016
Revised: January 6, 2017
Accepted: May 18, 2017
Article in press: May 19, 2017
Published online: June 18, 2017
Processing time: 238 Days and 21.1 Hours
To determine the location of medial tibial plateau stress fractures and its relationship with tibial plateau morphology using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
A retrospective review of patients with a diagnosis of stress fracture of the medial tibial plateau was performed for a 5-year period. Fourteen patients [three female and 11 male, with an average age of 36.4 years (range, 15-50 years)], who underwent knee MRI, were included. The appearance of the tibial plateau stress fracture and the geometry of the tibial plateau were reviewed and measured on MRI.
Thirteen of 14 stress fractures were linear, and one of them stellated on MRI images. The location of fractures was classified into three types. Three fractures were located anteromedially (AM type), six posteromedially (PM type), and five posteriorly (P type) at the medial tibial plateau. In addition, tibial posterior slope at the medial tibial plateau tended to be larger when the fracture was located more posteriorly on MRI.
We found that MRI showed three different localizations of medial tibial plateau stress fractures, which were associated with tibial posterior slope at the medial tibial plateau.
Core tip: Stress fracture of the medial tibial plateau is a rare injury. No studies have investigated detailed magnetic resonance imaging features of this fracture type. We found three distinct location types of isolated stress fractures of the medial tibial plateau. Posterior tibial slope serves as an indicator to determine the fracture site at the medial tibial plateau.