The association of meniscal body height with knee structural changes in middle-aged and elderly patients with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis

To investigate whether and how meniscal height is associated with osteoarthritis (OA)-related knee structural changes in symptomatic knee OA. We studied 106 patients (61 female, aged 40-73 years) with symptomatic knee OA. X-ray was used for Kellgren-Lawrence score. Meniscal body heights and extrusion were measured on coronal sections of intermediate-weighted MRI sequence. Knee structural changes were assessed using the modified whole-organ magnetic resonance imaging score (WORMS). Associations between meniscal body height and knee structural changes were assessed using linear regression analysis. Higher medial meniscal body height was significantly associated with severe medial meniscal lesions ( = 0.001-0.023), medial compartmental cartilage lesions ( = 0.045), patellofemoral compartmental and medial compartmental bone marrow edema patterns ( = 0.001-0.037), anterior cruciate ligament and patellar ligament abnormalities ( = 0.020-0.023), and loose bodies ( = 0.017). However, lateral meniscal body height was negatively correlated with WORMS scores for lateral meniscal lesions ( ≤ 0.018), lateral compartmental cartilage lesions ( ≤ 0.011), and lateral compartmental bone marrow edema patterns ( = 0.038). Higher medial meniscal body height was associated with more severe medial compartment structural abnormalities and patellofemoral bone marrow edema patterns, while lateral meniscal body height was inversely correlated with the severity of lateral compartment structural abnormalities. Our study revealed that meniscal body height was associated with multiple OA-related knee structural changes, which would be beneficial in identifying patients with or at risks for knee OA.