THE NATURAL-HISTORY OF MENISCAL TEARS IN ANTERIOR CRUCIATE LIGAMENT INSUFFICIENCY

We reviewed the meniscal status of 176 consecutive patients undergoing anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction acutely (less than 6 weeks from injury), subchronically (6 weeks to 12 months from injury), and c hronically (more than 12 months from injury). The commonest tear was t he single longitudinal vertical split of the medial meniscus. There wa s an increasing incidence of meniscal tears as the injury became more chronic, with a significant (P < 0.001) increase in medial meniscal te ars; the incidence of lateral meniscal tears remained relatively const ant. Seventy-five (43%) of the patients had one or both menisci repair ed. Acutely, repair was performed more frequently on the medial menisc us than the lateral (80% versus 24%, respectively). All repaired menis ci had single longitudinal tears unstable to probing. The incidence of repair dropped to 46% in the medial meniscus and 14% in the lateral m eniscus in the chronic stage. Nineteen (25%) of these 75 patients (26 menisci) underwent a check arthroscopy at a minimum of 6 months from r epair. All 21 medial menisci and all 5 lateral meniscal tears had heal ed; however, 1 lateral meniscus had torn along the line of the sutures . At an average followup of 40 months, 92% of the repaired menisci wer e still in situ and 8% that had required resection were related to the recurrence of anterior cruciate ligament instability. This study high lights the increasing incidence of meniscal injury in chronic anterior cruciate ligament insufficiency with the meniscal tears becoming more complex and therefore less amenable to suture. We recommend that pati ents with anterior cruciate ligament instability be investigated for r epairable meniscal tears and that ligament stabilization of the knee a nd meniscal sutures be considered early.