Arthroscopic meniscectomy - Treatment costs and postoperative function in a historical perspective

We report short-term data from 82 consecutive patients with arthroscopic me niscectomy 1995-1998 in stable knees and without severe cartilage changes. All patients were treated as outpatients, the operating time was, on averag e, 23 SD12 minutes and 3 of 4 patients were back at work within 1 week. Alm ost half of the patients still had some knee problems 3 months after surger y, but thereafter a substantial improvement was seen. We also report original data from a consecutive series of patients having a rthroscopic meniscectomy 1980-81. In that series, the frequency of total me niscectomies was higher, the operating time longer, but the time to recover y was shorter than in 1995-98, In contrast to 1995-98, most of the patients in 1980-81 were followed by the doctor and had supervised rehabilitation. However, sick leave was similar in the two series. The total costs for an a rthroscopic meniscectomy in 1998 was less than half the costs in 1980-81, We conclude that the improved technique for arthroscopic meniscectomy durin g the last 15-20 years and less supervised rehabilitation have reduced the costs, but not the recovery time.