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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 34/7/1072    most recent 0363546505284236v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Majewski, M. Articles by Friederich, N. F. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Majewski, M. Articles by Friederich, N. F. Related Collections Degenerative Joint Disease Knee Meniscus Arthroscopy

Midterm and Long-term Results After Arthroscopic Suture Repair of Isolated, Longitudinal, Vertical Meniscal Tears in Stable Knees

Martin Majewski, MD^*,,, Reinhard Stoll, MD, Heinz Widmer, MD, Werner Müller, MD and Niklaus F. Friederich, MD

From the Department of Orthopedic Surgery and Traumatology, Kantonsspital Bruderholz, Bruderholz, Switzerland, and the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Kantonsspital, Liestal, Switzerland

^* Address correspondence to Martin Majewski, MD, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology, Kantonsspital Bruderholz, CH-4101 Bruderholz, Switzerland (e-mail: majewski01{at}yahoo.de).

Background: The long-term outcome of meniscal suture repair has not been firmly established.

Purpose: To compare the midterm and long-term functional and radiographic outcome of meniscal suture repairs with the natural history of the uninjured knees of each of a cohort of patients.

Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3.

Methods: Eighty-eight patients with an isolated, longitudinal, vertical tear of one of the menisci within a stable knee were arthroscopically treated with a meniscal suture repair. No patient had a previous surgery, and no additional chondral lesion was present. The opposite knee of each patient was uninjured. Both knees of each patient were examined clinically and radiographically in a retrospective follow-up 5 to 17 years (mean, 10 years) after meniscal repair.

Results: Three patients with postoperative complications and 21 patients whose menisci had to be removed because of rerupture were excluded from further evaluation for purposes of this study. The remaining 64 patients reached a mean Tegner activity level of 6 points (range, 3–10 points) and achieved a mean Lysholm score of 94 points (range, 26–100 points). Osteoarthritis was found in 46 of the injured knees, compared with 27 of the uninjured knees (P = .004). However, 42 of the patients had no difference in the grade of osteoarthritis between the injured knee and the uninjured knee, 19 had a difference of 1 grade, 2 had a difference of 2 grades, and 1 had a difference of 3 grades.

Conclusion: Arthroscopic meniscal repair for isolated longitudinal meniscal injuries in stable knees yields favorable functional results, but its effects on the risk of secondary osteoarthritis are not clear.

Key Words: meniscal suture repair • long-term results • osteoarthritis • arthroscopic surgery

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