Introduction:

Osteochondral fractures that affect the knee joint occur in isolation or associated with other traumatic conditions. The initial diagnosis is sometimes difficult to make due to the convergence of clinical and imaging signs.

Objective:

To provide updated information on the most important elements of this traumatic entity.

Methods:

The search and analysis of the information was carried out in a period of 31 days (from August the first to the 31st, 2021) and the following words of the English language were used: osteochondral lesions, osteochondral fractures, osteochondral injuries from the Information obtained, a bibliographic review of a total of 315 articles published in the PubMed, Hinari, SciELO and Medline databases was carried out using the EndNote search manager and reference manager.

Results:

Reference is made to the mechanism of production, arthroscopic appearance, location, characteristics in terms of extension, depth, classification and displacement. The imaging modalities used in diagnosis and their usefulness are described. Regarding the differential diagnosis, a group of entities with similar characteristics are described. Treatment modalities based on size and time of evolution are mentioned.

Conclusions:

Osteochondral fractures are frequent injuries, for their diagnosis a high index of suspicion is needed, since the initial clinical and imaging diagnosis are not conclusive in most patients because they are combined with other conditions.

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