Treatment of Torn Lateral Discoid Meniscus

— Comparison of Meniscal Repair Group and Subtotal Meniscectomy Group —

Abstract

Arthroscopic treatment has been widely performed for tears of the lateral discoid meniscus. However, this frequently results in total meniscectomy in cases of degenerative peripheral tear. We performed meniscal suturing of residual peripheral tears after subtotal meniscectomy to preserve the function of the meniscus.
Methods : We treated 15 knees of 15 patients (4 males and 11 females) with symptomatic lateral discoid meniscus tears. The mean age of the patients at surgery was 18.7 years (range, 7 to 37 years), and the mean follow-up period was 2.7 years (range, 12 to 65 months). We retrospectively compared the clinical results and the incidence rate of osteochondritis dissecans (OCD) in the peripheral repair group with those in the subtotal meniscectoy group. Clinical results were assessed on the basis of the Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score.
Results : Eight patients underwent arthroscopic partial meniscectomy alone. In the remaining 7 patients with degenerative peripheral tears, meniscal repair was performed after subtotal meniscectomy to avoid total meniscectomy. All of the patients had excellent JOA scores at the final follow-up point. None of them required additional surgery for re-tear. The incidence of OCD was 14% in the partial meniscectomy group, whereas OCD was not found in the peripheral repair group.
Conclusion : Our results demonstrate the short-term efficacy of arthroscopic partial meniscectomy in conjunction with peripheral repair in cases of degenerative peripheral tear of lateral discoid meniscus.