Presentation
Bilateral knee pain. History of previous meniscal repair.
Patient Data
Bilateral tripartite patella.
Fabella is noted bilaterally behind the lateral femoral condyle.
Case Discussion
Multipartite patella is a normal variant, usually asymptomatic and not necessarily the cause of the patient's complain when encountered on imaging. The unfused ossification centers are attached to the rest of the patella through fibrous synchondrosis that can be affected on direct trauma causing anterior knee pain. The well corticated, rounded edges of the fragments distinguish this from a patella fracture.
In our case, according to saupe classification, it is considered type III which is the most common form where the superolateral pole of the patella is the site of segmentation.