Here are the results of my knee MRI, and I’m in need of a translator.
- Chronic strain (vs. partial tear) of the anterior cruciate ligament.
- Mild joint effusion.
- Osteochondral bodies versus focus of lipoma arborescens. Arthroscopy may clarify this differential.
Wow. It really is a whole new language.
The first two I can sort of understand. My ACL is strained, but not torn. However, chronic does imply that it’s likely been weakened over time.
As for joint effusion I’m going to say that means that my knee joints have pulled apart creating holes where there shouldn’t be holes.
I really can’t even touch the last one without pulling out the medical dictionary (and the plant dictionary as it turns out). Osteochondral just means bone/cartilage. Lipoma is a benign fatty tumor. Arborescens is a genus of Aloe plant. So I guess that means I have some bone fragments instead of a fat piece of aloe in my knee. Somehow I think I’d rather have the aloe.
Actually, had I scrolled down farther I would have seen that lipoma arborescens means: a rare intra-articular lesion consisting of subsynovial villous proliferation of mature fat cells.
Yeah, I don’t want either of those things. I guess I’ll find out in a month!
