POSTGRADUATE ORTHOPEDIC INSTRUCTION - IMAGING

Case Presentation

Fabián Caruso, Natalia Promizio, Diego Korol

Orthopedics and Traumatology Service, Hospital Interzonal General de Agudos “Eva Perón”, San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Case Resolution on page 519.

Knee Trauma with Restricted Range of Motion

ABSTRACT

A 36-year-old male athlete had undergone anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction at age 20. He later developed residual restriction in the range of motion of his left knee, with no preceding trauma.

Keywords: Knee; pain.

Level of Evidence: IV

Traumatismo de rodilla con limitación de la movilidad

RESUMEN

Hombre de 36 años de edad, deportista, sometido a una cirugía plástica del ligamento cruzado anterior a los 20 años. Evolucionó con limitación de la movilidad de la rodilla izquierda residual, sin traumatismo previo.

Palabras clave: Rodilla, dolor.

Nivel de Evidencia: IV

INTRODUCTION

A 36-year-old man presented with left knee pain, range of motion limited to 90°, and intermittent locking. At age 20, he had torn his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) while playing sports and undergone ACL reconstruction using a bone-tendon-bone graft and a biodegradable screw. Three months later, he underwent a second procedure to remove the broken screw, during which an osteochondral lesion was identified.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was requested.

IMAGING FINDINGS AND INTERPRETATION

Proton density (PD)-weighted MRI showed magnetic susceptibility artifacts related to the ACL reconstruction. The graft had normal signal intensity and morphology. A rounded focal lesion was visible proximal to the graft, and another lay posterior to its proximal third. Other findings included increased joint fluid, normal patellar alignment with the femoral trochlea, intact cartilage, no meniscal tears, an intact posterior cruciate ligament with normal orientation, and intact medial and lateral collateral ligaments (Figure 1).

N. Promizio ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-4296-7395

D. Korol ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-7973-1144

Received on July 3rd, 2026. Accepted after evaluation on July 7^th, 2026 • Dr. FABIÁN CARUSO • Fabianpabloc@gmail.com • https://orcid.org/0009-0000-7210-2725

How to cite this article: Caruso F, Promizio N, Korol D. Postgraduate Orthopedic Instruction – Imaging. Case Presentation. Rev Asoc Argent Ortop Traumatol 2026;91(5):408-409. https://doi.org/10.15417/issn.1852-7434.2026.91.5.2427

Article Info

Identification: https://doi.org/10.15417/issn.1852-7434.2026.91.5.2427

Published: October, 2026

Conflict of interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

License: This article is under Attribution-NonCommertial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Creative Commons License (CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0).