Arthroscopic Meniscal Repair Using Inside-Out Technique under Minimized Skin Incision

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the Inside-Out arthroscopic repair technique using minimized skin incision for the peripheral tear of the meniscus. MATERIAL AND METHOD: We treated 44 meniscal tears of 39 patients with Inside-Out arthroscopic repair technique using minimized skin incision from December 1995 to November 1997 and evaluated the result retrospectively. Follow-up period was from 23 months to 50 months(average 34.5 months) and patient age was from 4 to 55(average 26.7). Twenty cases(45%) were injured during sports and 34 cases(77%) were chronically injured case. Ninteen cases(43%) were combined with ligament injuries and among them, 18 cases had an anterior cruciate ligament injury. All cases had peripheral tear and 12 cases were bucket handle tear and 8 cases were tear of discoid meniscus and 3 cases had meniscal cyst. RESULT: During follow-up period, 41 cases(95%) were satisfied and had excellent or good results which were based on the evaluation form of Tapper & Hoover's criteria. Recurrences of meniscal tear were occurred in two cases and they were resutured arthroscopically. As complications, three cases had skin dimplings at the suture site and they were treated with subcutaneous dissection at the out patient clinic. CONCLUSIONS: Even if not many cases and short follow-up periods, we obtained good result. Therefore, we recommend the Inside-Out arthroscopic repair technique using minimized skin incision for the periph-eral tear of the meniscus in any repairable condition.