Natural course of intra-articular shifting bone marrow edema syndrome of the knee

Description: Nicolas Aigner , Roland Meizer , Gert Petje , Elisabeth Meizer , Ashraf Abdelkafy and Franz Landsiedl BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders 2008, 9:45 Abstract & link to free full text
Background Intra-articular shift (migration) of bone marrow edema syndrome (BMES) is a very rare disease. Only a few cases have been reported thus far. The condition may cause the clinician to suspect an aggressive disease.
Results MR imaging showed complete restitution in 6 cases and a small residual edema in one case. A final control MR could not be obtained for one patient, who had no pain. A further patient had an avascular necrosis of the contralateral hip after 16 months. Improvement on MR imaging was correlated with the clinical outcome in all cases. All patients became asymptomatic after a mean period of 9 months (6-11). Interpretation: Intra-articular shifting BMES is a very rare condition. As the disease is self-limiting, conservative therapy may be recommended.