Posted on 03/31/2023 8:10:46 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
Tearing their meniscus—a crescent-shaped piece of a soft cushion of cartilage located between the femur and tibia—can be devastating for young athletes. It is easily damaged in people with congenital lateral discoid meniscus or those that are physically active and once damaged, the meniscus cannot repair itself. The most common method has been to remove the damaged portion of the meniscus, but in recent years meniscus-sparing surgeries, that suture the margins of the meniscus at the tear, have begun to spread.
Researchers conducted a 5-year study of cartilage degeneration, following up on 41 young patients (initially aged 15 or younger), with lateral disk meniscus injuries who received different treatments. They were divided into two groups—the subtotal resection group, where more than half of the meniscus was removed; and the plastic suture group, in which the torn margin of the meniscus was sutured leading to a smaller resection.
The researchers observed that subtotal meniscectomies were more likely to progress cartilage degeneration, the worst being when the posterior segment was dissected for those with lateral disk meniscus injuries. In addition, they found that in younger patients, even if there was more damage to the meniscus, preserving the meniscus with sutures was more effective in protecting cartilage from future damage.
"By performing surgical procedures to preserve the meniscus as much as possible, we found that it is important—especially in the posterior segment—to preserve knee function to prevent the progression of age-related cartilage degeneration. In the future, we would like to promote the use of surgical techniques that preserve the posterior segment," concluded Dr. Hashimoto.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
I had a meniscus repair in 1991 where the orthopedic surgeon tried something similar to this technique. Unfortunately it failed, and I needed to have a large section of meniscus removed a few years later. Still grinding along, although a knee replacement is probably in my future. Hopefully, this technique has improved in the last 30 years.
Too late for me. Had a good portion of meniscus removed back in the 80s.
After multiple small tears and arthroscopic surgeries , the last procedure they did a microfracture. Poke holes end of femur, spurs the body to regenerate some cushioning in the joint. Has been much better since
Sounds like a good conservative approach.
I’m going to try the stem cell approach.
Tell me how that goes.
“Too late for me. Had a good portion of meniscus removed back in the 80s”.
For me it was in 1972—then artifical knee in 2015. ‘Wasn’t fun.
Probably shouldn’t have practiced jumping to the ground from our roof!
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