Subchondral cysts of the tibia secondary to osteoarthritis of the knee.

Subchondral cysts of the tibia secondary to osteoarthritis of the knee are not usually seen on radiographs. When present, they are typically small and present no diagnostic difficulty. Two cases of unusually large subchondral lesions of the medial tibial plateau are presented. The lesions were well defined and lay adjacent to the medial tibial cortex with their long axes in the sagittal plane. Both were associated with moderate medial compartment osteoarthritis. Additional information obtained from computed tomography indicated that these lesions were subchondral cysts secondary to osteoarthritis rather than tumors or other tumor-like conditions.