Background:Development of the fetal period of the meniscus has been reported in different studies.
Aims:Evaluation of the lateral and the medial menisci development, typing and the relationship of the tibia during the fetal period.
Study Design:Anatomical dissection.
Methods:We were evaluated 210 knee meniscus obtained from 105 human fetuses that in age from 9-40 weeks. Fetuses were divided into four groups. Intraarticular structure were exposed. This was followed by taking pictures (Samsung WB 100 26X Optical Zoom Wide, Pekin, China) of the intra-articular structures with the help of millimetric ruler. The pictures were digitized for morphometric analyses and analyzed by Netcad 5.1 Software (Ak Mühendislik Ltd, Şti, Ankara, Turkey).
Results:The lateral and the medial meniscal areas, the lateral and the medial articular surface areas of the tibia increased throughout the gestation. We found that the medial articular surface areas was larger than the lateral articular surface areas and the difference was statistically significant. The ratio of the mean lateral and medial meniscal area to the lateral and the medial articular surface areas of the tibia was decresed gradually from the first group towards to full term. The most common shape for the medial meniscus was crescentic (50%), the lateral meniscus was C-shaped (61%).
Conclusion:The present study aims to clarify the development of fetal menisci by providing reliable data through anatomical dissection method in a large series. The study has revealed the development of the morphological changes and the morphometric measurement of the menisci.

Key words: human fetus, meniscus, development, meniscal area.