Discoid Meniscus/ Snapping Knee Syndrome

The meniscus is a C Shaped, tough, and rubbery cartilage in the knee joint. There are two of them in a knee that acts as shock absorbers.
Snapping Knee Syndrome occurs when there is a snapping sound or click usually after knee bending. Discoid meniscus is a synonym for this syndrome.
Here the Meniscus instead of being C Shaped becomes like a D Shape. The underlying morphology is also different.

Symptoms:
While many patients have snapping knees, many others may not have any symptoms and the Discoid meniscus may be detected during MRI.
Other symptoms include pain, swelling, the feeling of giving way, etc. Typically the symptoms can occur after an injury.

Diagnosis:
A thorough clinical examination may give the early clue.
The best test to detect it is usually an MRI examination.

Treatment:
If the patient doesn’t have any symptoms and the Discoid meniscus is detected incidentally, then
no treatment is required even if snapping is present.
In case of symptoms and tear in the Discoid meniscus, Arthroscopic management is best. Using
Keyhole surgery, we can trim the Meniscus into the desired shape,
Afterward, a simple course of exercise will be prescribed.
The patients can resume normal activities from the next day of surgery.