Case: Lower limb radiograph #97150532
Lower limb Intermediate
Read this radiograph systematically before revealing the answer. What is the main abnormality?
Image: Hellerhoff via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source · resized and converted to WebP
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Answer: Knee joint effusion
What to look for in knee joint effusion
- On the lateral view, soft-tissue density distends the suprapatellar recess between the quadriceps fat pad and the prefemoral fat pad.
- In trauma, a fat–fluid level on a horizontal-beam lateral (lipohaemarthrosis) implies an intra-articular fracture.
- Effusion alone is non-specific.
Description by the image author (may be in another language): Gelenkerguss Kniegelenk in der Röntgenaufnahme
Educational case. The diagnosis comes from the image's documented source; the "what to look for" list describes the condition in general and is not a report of this individual image.
