Arthroscopic Meniscus Repairs

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The clinical outcomes of the arthroscopic meniscus repairs were reviewed retrospectively. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty six cases of arthroscopic meniscus repairs which had been performed from September 1993 to December 1998 on the basis of day surgery and followed up for a minimum of one year were analyzed retrospectively about the clinical outcomes, including age, sex, involved meniscus, duration of symptom, tear site, and the associated injuries. We arthroscopically repaired the meniscus which was detached peripherally or vertically over 1 cm in length where the inner portion is found to be salvageable at the outer one-third of the meniscus and where there is a rich blood supply that promotes healing of the torn edges, Inside-out techniques were used for the tears in the middle and posterior one- third of the mensicus and outside-in techniques for the tears in the anterior one-third of the meniscus. Repairs after partial excisions were tried for the tears of the discoid lateral meniscus if possible and the mean follow-up periods was 34 months(ranged, 12~65 months). RESULTS: At the final follow-up evaluation, we obtained 34 cases(76.1 k) of good or excellent clinical results according to the Ikeuchi criteria among 46 arthroscopic meniscus repairs and 9 cases(19.6%) of poor results due to recurrent tears. The best clinical results(80.6%) after repairs according to the comparison of tear patterns is obtained in the longitudinal tears, and the results after repairs for the medial mensicus tears were better than that of the lateral meniscus, but poor results in the tears of the discoid lateral meniscus(64.3%) and tears with associated ligamentous injuries(73.6%), CONCLUSION: Arthroscopic meniscus repair is thought to be a reliable procedure and recommended if possible as the repaired meniscus gives better function than that of meniscectomy.