• The Journal of Korean Orthopaedic Ultrasound Society
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.39-44
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• 2014

The patellar clunk syndrome is one of the patellofemoral complication, caused by formation of the fibrous nodule at the suprapatellar region after total knee arthroplasty. The symptom involves painful catching, crepitus and clunk during knee extension. It has been mainly but not exclusively associated with the posterior stabilized total knee system. The fibrous nodule is entrapped in the femoral intercondylar notch of the femoral component during flexion and as the knee is extended, it displaces back to the trochlear groove abruptly and the typical symptoms occur. The risk of developing this complication is primarily related to the design of the femoral component and higher incidence was noted with earlier designs of posterior stabilized knee prosthesis. Modifications have been made to the femoral component to optimize the kinematics of the patellofemoral joint and thereby reduced the incidence of patellar clunk syndrome but did not eliminate the problem completely. Clinical examination is the gold standard of diagnosis and imaging study has been used as a possible adjunct to diagnosis. Especially ultrasonography is an imaging modality, which can be easily performed to detect the fibrous nodule on the quadriceps tendon. We report a case of patellar clunk syndrome which was diagnosed with ultrasonography.

• The Journal of Korean Orthopaedic Ultrasound Society
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.33-38
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• 2014

Purpose: To determine the therapeutic effectiveness of ultrasound-guided medial branch block (MBB) for the herniated lumbar disc patients who did not relieve their symptoms after percutaneous epidural neuroplasty (PEN). Materials and Methods: From August 2011 to February 2013, 559 patients with herniated lumbar disc have undergone PEN. Among them, ultrasound-guided MBBs were performed for the patients who had sustained low back pain and refered pain to lower extremities. Eighty eight patients were followed at 1 month and 39 patients could be followed at 6 month. All procedures have been performed by the one operator, and 23 G, 10 cm needle was placed and 0.5% lidocaine was injected under ultrasound guide. To target medial branches from L1 to L5, the groove at the root of transverse process and the base of superior articular process has been identified on transverse scan. Patients were evaluated by Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) at each follow-up. Significant pain relief was described as a 50% or more reduction in VAS and significant improvement in function was described as at least a 40% reduction in ODI. Results: VAS showed that preprocedure pain ($7.35{\pm}1.68$; $mean{\pm}SD$) significantly decreased 1 month after block ($3.36{\pm}2.98$) and 6 month ($3.05{\pm}2.27$) (p<0.05). ODI also showed that preprocedure score ($32.82{\pm}8.77$) significantly decreased at 1 month ($15.14{\pm}14.01$) and 6 month ($12.97{\pm}8.82$) (p<0.05). Significant pain relief was observed in 64.49% at 1 month and 64.10% at 6 month. Significant functional improvement in 59.81% at 1 month and 61.54% at 6 month. Conclusion: Ultrasound-guided medial branch block may sufficiently treat the facet problems secondary from disc disease.