Suprapatellar Joint Recess

This is a supplement to page 57-58 of The Resident’s Manual of Ultrasound-Guided Procedures.

Fully flex the patient’s knee (as much as they can tolerate), to force the fluid into the suprapatellar joint recess.

You can see the joint capsule stretching and getting dragged in with the needle. Make quick movements to puncture through.

This arthrocentesis yielded ~25 mL of serous fluid.

Serous aspirate from a patient with tricompartmental osteoarthritis.

Sanguinous aspirate from an ACL tear.