Clinical outcomes of arthroscopic Pridie drilling technique for the repair of full-thickness articular chondral defects of the knee / 中国微创外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To summarize the clinical effect of arthroscopic Pridie drilling technique for repairing full-thickness articular chondral defects of the knee.Methods A retrospective study was made on clinical data of 28 patients(29 knees) with full-thickness articular cartilage defects treated with arthroscopic Pridie drilling technique from November 1999 to July 2005 in this hospital.A Kirschner wire 1.0~1.2 mm in diameter was used in the procedure to puncture holes in the subchondral bone plate.Holes were made adjacent to each other as closely as possible,but not to break into neighbouring ones,with normally 2~3 mm apart.The depth of the hole was 3~4 mm.A protected weight-bearing protocol lasting 6~8 weeks and continous passive motion(CPM) were used postoperatively.The Tegner activity levels,the Meyers scores,and the Lysholm knee scores were used for evaluation before and after the operation.Results The surgical outcomes were classified as "excellent" in 19 cases,"good" in 5 cases,and "poor" in 4,with the total effective rate being 85.7%(24/28).The Tegner activity levels were elevated from 1.9?1.2 preoperatively to 4.9?1.9 postoperatively(t=10.912,P=0.001),the Meyers scores from 10.3?1.3 preoperatively to 15.9?2.6 postoperatively (t=10.101,P=0.005),and the Lysholm knee scores from 47.7?12.5 to 83.2?15.4(t=10.302,P=0.003),respectively.Conclusions Arthroscopic Pridie drilling is a simple,safe,mini-invasive,and effective technique, which appears to be a practical surgical option for the treatment of full-thickness articular chondral lesions of the knee.