Review of the operative records for a period of ten years in an active children's orthopaedic hospital revealed only seven cases of true mechanical or developmental lesions of the menisci in the knees of children twelve years of age or younger.
The average yearly number of orthopaedic operations in this hospital during the past ten years has been approximately 250. These figures show the relative infrequenscy of the occurrence of meniscal lesions in young children.
However, the three cases presented show that meniscal damage should always be considered as a possible diagnosis in injuries to the knees of young children.