Techniques for automatically detecting meniscus include receiving pixels from a scanning device directed to a knee of a subject. Also received is a region of interest that includes pixels that correspond to at least a portion of a meniscus of the knee. Without human intervention, a meniscus extraction threshold is determined based on pixel intensities in the region of interest. A meniscus object portion of the scan data is further determined without human intervention based on the meniscus extraction threshold and a geometrical constraint. Other techniques for automatically detecting meniscal tears includes receiving a meniscus object portion of scan data from a scanning device and receiving threshold data that indicates a meniscus extraction threshold. Without human intervention, a propensity for meniscal tears is determined based on the threshold data and the meniscus object portion of the scan data.