Long-term results of arthroscopic partial lateral meniscectomy in knees without associated damage

we evaluated the outcome of partial lateral meniscectomy of 31 knees in 29 patients whose knees were otherwise normal. The mean follow-up was 10.3 yea rs. According to the Lysholm score, 14 knees were rated as excellent, four as g ood, five as fair and eight as poor, with a mean score of 80.5 points. Radi ologically, only one lateral compartment was classified as grade 0, eight a s grade 1, nine as grade 2, 11 as grade 3, and two as grade 4 according to Tapper and Hoover, No significant (p < 0.05) correlation was found between the amount of tissue resected and the subjective, clinical and radiological outcome. Although early results of lateral meniscectomy may be satisfactory, we have demonstrated that in the long term there was a high incidence of degenerat ive changes, a high rate of reoperation (29%) and a relatively low function al outcome score.