Abstract
The purpose of this study was to arthroscopically evaluate natural healing of torn lateral meniscus combined with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury at the time of ACL reconstruction. Meniscus was judged as having been torn and healed when scratch-like scar existed on the surface of the meniscus and stable. Each scar on the meniscus was probed carefully to determine whether it was partially healed or completely healed. There were 54 lateral meniscus tears associated with 92 ACL injuries. Of the meniscus judged as healed including radial tears, 18 healed completely and 8 healed partially. Lateral meniscus tears have great potential for healing. This explains the reduced injury rate of lateral meniscus to medial in the comparison of chronic ACL injury to acute ACL injury.
