Suture configuration techniques have no effect on mid-term clinical outcomes of arthroscopic meniscus root repairs

The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical and radiological outcomes of arthroscopic transtibial pullout repair (ATPR) for the medial meniscus with both two modified loop stitches (TLS) and two simple stitches (TSS) techniques.

Between January 2013 and January 2016, 41 patients who had undergone ATPR for medial root tears with TLS and TSS techniques were retrospectively evaluated. The mean age at operation was 53 years (range 45-58). The mean follow-up period was 44.6 months (range 26-64). Lysholm knee score was used for clinical evaluation before and after surgery. For all patients, meniscal extrusion distances in the coronal plane were measured using magnetic resonance imaging and were recorded both preoperatively and at final follow-up.

There was no difference in terms of meniscus extrusion measurements between groups preoperatively (P > .05). Postoperative meniscus extrusion measurements were 2.1 ± 0.3 and 2.9 ± 0.6 in TLS and TSS groups, respectively. The difference between groups was statistically significant (P < .01). The increase in postoperative Lysholm score was found to be statistically significant in both groups (P < .01). Postoperative Lysholm scores were 88.8 ± 3.7 and 87.6 ± 4.8 in TLS and TSS groups, respectively. The difference between groups was statistically insignificant (P > .05).

There was a significant improvement in Lysholm knee scores postoperatively in patients that underwent transtibial pullout medial meniscus posterior root repair regardless of meniscus reduction level and suture configuration types. Although TLS technique was superior to TSS technique in terms of meniscus reduction, this meniscus reduction did not create any clinical difference at clinical outcome.