Cysts of the menisci of the knee joint are of sufficient rarity that we wish to present the 4 cases that we have observed and summarize the material collected from the available literature. We have been able to find 159 case reports, making a total of 163 cases described to date. All authors are agreed on the symptomatology, the signs and the treatment, but there is some difference of opinion as to the etiology. We shall discuss the points of agreement and dissension and then present our cases.
Nicole in 1933 was able to collect reports of 127 cases from the literature. We have found reports of 36 additional cases, including our own. In 23 of these 163 cases the cyst was in the medial meniscus and in 104 in the lateral meniscus. In 36 cases the site was not stated. One case of bilateral cyst was reported by Majer.