Reporting knee meniscal tears: technical aspects, typical pitfalls and how to avoid them

Insights into Imaging

Table 2 Tibial insertions of the meniscal roots and meniscal roots tear MRI findings [41, 50–54]

Meniscal root ligament	Tibial insertion relative to cruciate ligaments	Meniscal root tear – MRI findings
		Direct findings	Associated findings
Anterior medial root	7 mm anterior to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL)	Ghost meniscal sign on sagittal images	Cartilage defect
Posterior medial root	8 mm anterior to the most superior insertion of the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL)	Linear defect on coronal images (truncation sign)	Medial or lateral meniscal extrusion ¹
Anterior lateral root	4.1 mm lateral to the posterolateral bundle of ACL	Radial linear defect on axial images	Tear of ACL
Posterior lateral root	10.8 mm posterior to ACL and 12.7 mm anterior to PCL

¹ Meniscus is displaced beyond the tibial margin—on coronal images, a distance more than 3 mm for the medial meniscus and more than 1 mm for the lateral meniscus is considered abnormal [47]