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CASE REPORT
Unusual Morel-Lavallee lesion of the knee region in an elderly patient
  1. Walid EL Kininy1,
  2. Shane Davy1,3,
  3. Murali Sayana2,4
  1. 1Health Services Executive Midland Area, Portlaoise, Ireland
  2. 2Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin, Ireland
  3. 3University of Dublin Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
  4. 4Department of Orthopaedics, Our Lady's Hospital, Navan, Ireland
  1. Correspondence to Dr Walid EL Kininy, elkininw{at}tcd.ie

Summary

The Morel-Lavallee lesion (MLL) of the knee region has been described in the Orthopaedic literature, and all of those were fit and healthy young participants sustaining sports-related trauma to the knee. We describe a case of an elderly woman, on aspirin and prophylactic clexane, who sustained a low-energy injury to the right knee and developed an MLL of the knee region. A delayed recognition, led to the persistence of the MLL as a diffuse haematoma, which subsequently became colonised with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. We discuss the management of a case and highlight the importance of early identification and management of MLL of the knee region. Further evidence needs to be collected about MLL lesions in elderly, frail patients who are anticoagulated, and have increased risk of falls. This cohort of patients is more vulnerable to bleeding and infection than a fit, young adult population.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bcr-2016-218577

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors WELK is the doctor who initially assessed the patient and subsequently the chief editor of article in liaison with consultant trainer. SD assisted in collating data (literature review) and assessing radiological images through a background in radiology. MS is the consultant trauma and orthopaedics with overall care of the patient and has overall responsibility over case report.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent Obtained.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.