Study on clinical characteristics and surgical methods of bucket-handle meniscal tears / 中国修复重建外科杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To summarize the clinical features, surgical methods, and prognosis of bucket-handle meniscal tears (BHMTs), and provide guidance for clinical treatment.@*METHODS@#The clinical data of 91 BHMTs patients (91 knees), who met the selection criteria and were admitted between January 2015 and January 2021, was retrospectively analyzed. There were 68 males and 23 females. Age ranged from 16 to 58 years with an average of 34.4 years. The injury was caused by sports in 68 cases, traffic accident in 15 cases, and falls or sprains in 8 cases. There were 49 cases of left knee injury and 42 cases of right knee injury. The time from the onset of symptoms to the admission ranged from 1 day to 13 months (median, 18 days), including >1 month in 35 cases and ≤1 month in 56 cases. Medial BHMTs occurred in 52 cases and lateral BHMTs in 39 cases. There were 36 cases with ACL rupture and 12 cases with discoid meniscus. The knee extension was limited more than 10° in 55 cases. According to the condition of meniscus injury, the meniscus suture with Inside-out combined with All-inside techniques (54 cases) or meniscoplasty (37 cases) under arthroscopy were selected. ACL reconstruction was performed in all patients with ACL rupture with autogenous hamstring tendon. Postoperative complications were observed. International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) score, Lysholm score, and Tegner score were used to evaluate knee function, and clinical failure was recorded.@*RESULTS@#Two patients developed intermuscular venous thrombosis, which improved after oral anticoagulant therapy. No vascular injury, postoperative infection, joint stiffness, or other complications occurred in all patients. All patients were followed up 24-95 months, with a median of 64 months. A total of 12 cases (13.19%) failed the operation and were re-operated or given oral anti-inflammatory analgesics and rehabilitation therapy. At last follow-up, IKDC score and Lysholm score of 91 patients significantly increased when compared with those before operation ( P<0.05), while Tegner score significantly decreased ( P<0.05). The above indexes of patients treated with meniscus suture and meniscoplasty were also significantly different from those before operation ( P<0.05).@*CONCLUSION@#BHMTs occurs mostly in young men and is one of the important reasons for the limitation of knee extension after trauma. Arthroscopic meniscus suture and meniscoplasty can obtain good effectiveness according to individual conditions of patients. But the latter can better preserve the shape and function of meniscus, and theoretically can obtain better long-term outcomes, which needs to be confirmed by further research with larger sample size.

Comparison of the effect of medial open wedge high tibial osteotomy for moderate and severe knee osteoarthritis / 中华骨科杂志

Objective:To investigate the effect of medial open wedge high tibial osteotomy (HTO) on moderate and severe medial compartmental knee osteoarthritis.Methods:This study retrospectively reviewed patients treated with medial open wedge HTO between January 2017 and January 2019. All cases were followed up for more than 2 years. There were 28 patients with severe osteoarthritis, including 11 males and 17 females, aged 56.36±5.06 years. There were 32 patients with moderate osteoarthritis, including 12 males and 20 females, aged 54.16±6.3 years. Kellgren-Lawrence (K-L) grading, hip-knee-ankle angle (HKA), weight bearing line (WBL) ratio, joint line convergence angle (JLCA), medial joint space (MJS), posterior tibial slope (PTS), medial meniscus extrusion (MME) and medial meniscus extrusion ratio (MMER) were evaluated on radiographs before and 2 years after surgery. The International Cartilage Repair Society (ICRS) of the cartilage of medial femoral condyle (MFC) and medial tibial condyle (MTC) were evaluated under arthroscopy. The clinical outcomes were assessed by the Western Ontario and McMaster University (WOMAC) score, visual analogue scale (VAS) and the degree of medial collateral ligament (MCL) pseudo-relaxation. Predictors of MCL pseudo-relaxation were screened by binary logistic regression analysis.Results:K-L grading, HKA, WBL ratio and MJS improved in both groups after surgery, with no statistical significance between groups ( P>0.05). The postoperative JLCA was improved, whereas MME and MMER were not. And the severe group was higher than the moderate group before and after surgery ( P<0.05). Cartilage of MFC: in the severe group, 2 cases of ICRS 3 grade, 26 of 4 grade improved to 11 of 2 grade, 12 of 3 grade, 5 of 4 grade; in the moderate group, 12 cases of ICRS 2 grade, 18 of 3 grade, 2 of 4 grade improved to 30 of 2 grade, 2 of 3 grade. Cartilage of MTC: in the severe group, 2 cases of ICRS 3 grade, 26 of 4 grade improved to 17 of 2 grade, 8 of 3 grade, 3 of 4 grade; in the moderate group, 11 of 2 grade, 8 of 3 grade, 3 of 4 grade improved to 27 of 2 grade, 5 of 3 grade. The postoperative WOMAC score of the severe group improved from 50.71±8.07 to 3.86±1.84, while in the moderate group it improved from 44.09±6.63 to 3.34±2.24. The postoperative VAS score of the severe group decreased from 7.14±1.21 to 3.34±2.24, whereas it decreased from 6.38±1.24 to 0.44±0.62 in the moderate group ( P<0.05). There was no significant difference between the postoperative groups ( P>0.05). In the severe group, the degree of pseudo-relaxation of the MCL improved from preoperative 25 of I degree, 3 of II degree to postoperative 28 of 0 degree at the 0° position, and from 25 of I degree, 3 of II degree to 24 of 0 degree, 4 of I degree at 30° position ( P<0.05). In the moderate group, the degree of pseudo-relaxation of the MCL improved from preoperative 31 of 0 degree, 1 of I degree to postoperative 32 of 0 degree at the 0° position, and from 28 of 0 degree, 4 of I degree to 32 of 0 degree at the 30° position ( P<0.05). JLCA ( OR=0.08, 95% CI: 0.007, 0.948, P=0.045), MME ( OR=0.11, 95% CI: 0.100, 1.32, P=0.082) and MMER ( OR=0.66, 95% CI: 0.422, 1.030, P=0.067) were independent predictors of MCL pseudo-relaxation (the difference was statistically significant at P<0.10). Conclusion:Medial open wedge HTO has significant short-term clinical effect on the treatment of moderate and severe medial compartmental knee osteoarthritis, which can effectively relieve pain symptoms, improve joint function, and restore medial knee stability. Preoperative large JLCA, MME and MMER indicate pseudo-relaxation of the MCL.

Short-term clinical outcomes and second-look arthroscopic findings of high tibial osteotomy combined with medial meniscus posterior root repair / 中华骨科杂志

Objective To investigate the clinical outcomes and second-look arthroscopic findings after high tibial osteotomy (HTO) combined with medial meniscus posterior root (MMPR) repair.Methods Twenty-five patients who underwent HTO combined with MMPR repair were subjected to second-look arthroscopy and retrospectively analyzed.Biplane HTO combined with MMPR repair was performed on these patients.Arthroscopic transtibial pullout repair was employed to repair the MMPR.The relative degree of the medial meniscus extrusion (MME) were measured.Cartilage regeneration and the healing of MMPR were evaluated at the time of second-look arthroscopy.Clinical outcomes were assessed based on Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) scores and Lysholm scores.Results The MMPRs were completely healed in 12 cases (48％),partially healed in 9 cases (36％),healed with scarring in 3 cases (12％),and no healed in 1 case (4％).Follow-up duration was 13.04±1.06 months (12-16 months).There were no statistically significant differences in the Kellgren-Lawrence classifications of the cases before and after surgery (x2=0.786,P=0.675).The relative position of the mechanical axis of the lower extremity through the tibial plateau was 19.88％±t6.44％ preoperatively and 58.68％±17.71％ after operation with significant difference (t=-18.561,P ＜ 0.001).The Lysholm scores was increased significantly from 34.76±3.62 points to 82.08±4.35 points after operation (t=-52.717,P ＜ 0.001).The HSS scores was increased significantly from 33.52±6.48 points to 81.52±4.79 points after operation (t=-38.685,P ＜ 0.001).The degree of MME was changed from 51.12％± 13.55％ to 50.48％± 15.15％ without statistical difference (t=0.550,P=0.588).The comparison between different degrees of healing groups revealed no statistical differences in all variables (P ＞ 0.05).The comparison between different degree of cartilage regeneration groups revealed no statistical differences in all variables (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion HTO combined with MMPR repair can effectively improve the lower limb alignment and patients' symptoms with a satisfactory healing rate of MMPR.The effects of post-root repair after a short period is not obvious.The longer-term clinical effects is worthy of further observation.

Short-term clinical outcomes and second-look arthroscopic findings of high tibial osteotomy combined with medial meniscus posterior root repair / 中华骨科杂志

Objective@#To investigate the clinical outcomes and second-look arthroscopic findings after high tibial osteotomy (HTO) combined with medial meniscus posterior root (MMPR) repair.@*Methods@#Twenty-five patients who underwent HTO combined with MMPR repair were subjected to second-look arthroscopy and retrospectively analyzed. Biplane HTO combined with MMPR repair was performed on these patients. Arthroscopic transtibial pullout repair was employed to repair the MMPR. The relative degree of the medial meniscus extrusion (MME) were measured. Cartilage regeneration and the healing of MMPR were evaluated at the time of second-look arthroscopy. Clinical outcomes were assessed based on Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) scores and Lysholm scores.@*Results@#The MMPRs were completely healed in 12 cases (48%), partially healed in 9 cases (36%), healed with scarring in 3 cases (12%), and no healed in 1 case (4%). Follow-up duration was 13.04±1.06 months (12-16 months). There were no statistically significant differences in the Kellgren-Lawrence classifications of the cases before and after surgery (χ2=0.786, P=0.675). The relative position of the mechanical axis of the lower extremity through the tibial plateau was 19.88%±6.44% preoperatively and 58.68%±7.71% after operation with significant difference (t=-18.561, P<0.001). The Lysholm scores was increased significantly from 34.76±3.62 points to 82.08±4.35 points after operation (t=-52.717, P<0.001). The HSS scores was increased significantly from 33.52±6.48 points to 81.52±4.79 points after operation (t=-38.685, P<0.001). The degree of MME was changed from 51.12%±13.55% to 50.48%±15.15% without statistical difference (t=0.550, P=0.588) . The comparison between different degrees of healing groups revealed no statistical differences in all variables (P>0.05). The comparison between different degree of cartilage regeneration groups revealed no statistical differences in all variables (P>0.05).@*Conclusion@#HTO combined with MMPR repair can effectively improve the lower limb alignment and patients' symptoms with a satisfactory healing rate of MMPR. The effects of post-root repair after a short period is not obvious. The longer-term clinical effects is worthy of further observation.