Debridement arthroscopy - 10-year followup

The treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee is a difficult problem, in the senior author's opinion, nonaggressive arthroscopic debridement of the knee is an effective procedure to relieve pain and restore function in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee. A subjective telephone interview of patie nts done 10 or more years after arthroscopic debridement evaluated the long term results of this treatment in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee , The patients all were candidates fur total knee replacement who selected arthroscopy as a temporizing procedure, Of the 191 knees in patients underg oing arthroscopic debridement, 77 patients (91 knees) were contacted for fo llowup, Sixty-seven percent of the 91 knees did not have total knee arthrop lasty at an average of 13.2 years followup, The Tegner activity score avera ged 3.5 and patient satisfaction averaged 8.6 on a 0 to 10 scale. Twenty-on e patients (30 knees) or (33%) had total knee arthroplasty at an average of 6.7 years, Seven of these had total knee arthroplasty within 2 years of ar throscopic debridement. Six of these seven knees had Outerbridge Grade 4 ar ticular cartilage changes and clinically significant meniscus tears. Seven of the 19 knees (37%) with Outerbridge Grade 4 changes in 80% of one knee c ompartment did not require total knee arthroplasty after greater than 10 ye ar followup. The difficulties in long term followup in this patient populat ion is evident, yet the number of patients who had a functional lifestyle a fter arthroscopic debridement was notable.