THE EFFECT OF PARTIAL LATERAL MENISCECTOMY IN PATIENTS GREATER-THAN-OR-EQUAL-TO-60 YEARS

To determine the benefit, if any, of meniscectomy in an older populati on, all patients greater than or equal to 60 years who underwent parti al lateral meniscectomy were evaluated. Thirty-five patients (36 knees ) were available for follow-up. The average patient age was 64.9 years . Patients were divided into two groups based on the degree of articul ar cartilage damage. Patients in group 1 had no damage worse than grad e II and underwent arthroscopic partial meniscectomy only, while patie nts in Group 2 had grade III or IV damage and underwent arthroscopic d ebridement as well as partial meniscectomy. With an average follow-up of 36.8 months, the overall failure rate was 13.9%. Eighty-six percent of the patients reported the overall assessment of their knee as impr oved (94% and 80% in groups 1 and 2, respectively). While patients in group 2 tended to have less favorable results than patients in group 1 , these results indicate that this procedure is warranted and that bot h groups benefited significantly from partial meniscectomy.