[Meniscus transplantation and anterior cruciate ligament replacement--results 2-4 years postoperative]

23 transplantations of meniscus combined with replacement of the anterior cruciate ligament were performed from May 1984 to December 1986 at the Department of Orthopaedics of the University of Munich ('Klinikum Grosshadern'). Clinical follow-ups were coupled with arthroscopic follow-ups on the average 10 months postoperatively in 19 patients with transplantation of the medial meniscus of the knee joint. In 17 cases a lyophilised meniscus was transplanted and in 6 cases a deep-freeze allogenous meniscus. There were no operation-specific complications in either group. Both the lyophilised meniscus transplants and the deep-frozen ones underwent a reduction in size during the observation period. Whereas good to excellent results were generally obtained with the deep-frozen transplants, the results seen in the lyophilised transplants were less satisfactory due to reduction in size partly down to regenerate size. The treatment results were of course positively influenced due to the contributory effect of the regained stability; in the patients with meniscus transplants the preoperative Lysholm score was 72 +/- 14 points, on the average 36 weeks postoperatively 82 +/- 15 points. However, clinical and arthroscopic findings showed that no clinically, immunologically and morphologically satisfactory meniscus replacement has become available to date.