MENISCAL REPAIR - OUTCOMES AND CLINICAL FOLLOW-UP

A retrospective study of arthroscopic meniscal repair in 101 consecuti ve patients was conducted. Sixty-three patients constituted our study group, The arthroscopic technique used for meniscal repair was the ins ide-out method using malleable cannulas. Forty-five patients were avai lable for clinical examination, with a mean follow-up of 27 months. Te gner and Lysholm scores were comparable to those previously reported f or arthroscopic meniscal repair. The HSQ (similar to the SF-36) scores were equal to those from an age- and sex-matched normal population, i ndicating that individuals with repaired menisci do not have any resid ual negative effects on global health at mean 26.9 months' follow-up. The physical functioning subscale of the HSQ was found to be sensitive to patient perception of results. Complications included one case of restricted knee range of motion requiring arthroscopy and lysis of adh esions. Overall clinical results were 64% excellent, 27% good, and 9% failure. Age, sex, and length of the meniscal tear had no affect on cl inical outcome.