Abstract
Introduction Previous studies have identified morphological features in the bone and cartilage of knees with discoid lateral meniscus (DLM), but these investigations often depended on simple geometric variables like angles and linear dimensions. Three-dimensional (3D) bone and articular cartilage models can be used to obtain the volumes of knee structures. This study aimed to evaluate the volume of articular cartilage and epiphyseal bone in non-pathological knees and those with DLM and to assess their structural differences. Materials and methods This study included 19 magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of knees in 16 patients with DLM and 31 MRI scans of non-pathological knees in 30 patients. Knee articular cartilage and epiphyseal bone segmentation were performed to obtain 3D reconstructed models. Subsequently, the cartilage and bone models were divided into five compartments for the femur (two-row (anterior and posterior) sections for the lateral and medial condyles and one section for the intercondylar region) and six compartments for the tibia (using a three-column (medial, intercondylar, and lateral) × two-row (anterior and posterior) grid), and the volumes of each compartment were calculated. Results The DLM knees had reduced volume in the lateral part of the articular cartilage and epiphyseal bone than those in the control group. Statistically significant differences between the two groups were observed in the volumes of the lateral tibial cartilage and lateral femoral epiphyseal bone. Conclusions Our study showed that the volume measurements of the knee articular cartilage and epiphyseal bone could facilitate the understanding of the structural differences between knees with DLM and non-pathological knees. The lateral compartment of the articular cartilage and bone is smaller in knees with DLM, and may be distinguishable from non-pathological knees.