Ultrasonic features of the Osgood-Schlatter lesion.

Ultrasound was used to compare the knees of 10 boys and four girls with typical clinical Osgood-Schlatter lesions with 27 symptomless knees. The normal sonographic changes of the tibial tubercle with advancing age are described. In all children with Osgood-Schlatter lesions, the distal patellar tendon thickened and became more echogenic than normal tendons, and an anechoic zone of edema was seen anterior to the tibial tuberosity. Four knees disclosed a thin shell-like elevated fragment of the tibial tuberosity seen as an echogenic surface. In 12 knees, single or multiple fragments of the tibial tuberosity were easily shown. Ultrasound is proposed as a simple, fast, and reliable method for the diagnosis of the Osgood-Schlatter lesion.