Swelling And Soreness In Knee. Am I Entering An Acute Charcot Knee Breakdown Phase?

Posted on Tue, 24 Jan 2012

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 Answered on

Sun, 24 Jun 2012 Last reviewed on

Question : 41 year old male born with congenital insensitivity to pain which resulted in Charcot foot requiring numerous surgeries to correct deformities including the removal of the talus. I have been problem free since my early 20's. 5'8" 210lbs For the last 2 weeks I have had slight swelling and soreness in my knee. I have not had problems with my knee since I was 10 years old. I saw a dr. Last week who said my patella is in multiple pieces (4 or more) which must have happened in the past. Stated the soreness is due to developing arthritis. Could he be wrong and therefore I'm entering an acute charcot knee breakdown phase? If he is correct and this is just arthritis can my knee hold up with a shattered patella. I have full ROM and no trouble walking other than the recent soreness. Thank you.

Answered by Dr. Dr. Praveen Tayal (5 hours later)

Hello,

Thanks for posting your query.

Breaking down of patella into multiple pieces without any history of injury is most likely an age related change in your case. Chatcot knee is an unlikely possibility as unstability of joint and difficulty in weight bearing is seen in case of neuropathy.

The problem of stiffness is most likley due to an arthritic change and improvement will be seen after taking anti inflammatory drugs.

Shattered patella usually does not need any treatment if there are no symptoms.
An MRI scan of your knee joint will help in confirming the diagnosis.

I hope this answers your query effectively. In case you have additional questions or doubts, you can forward them to me. Please accept my answer in case you do not have further queries.

Regards.
Dr. Praveen Tayal.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Jyoti Patil