Editorial Commentary: Polyurethane Meniscal Scaffold Could Serve as a Bridge to Meniscal Allograft or Arthroplasty in...

The young, active patient with pain after subtotal meniscectomy represents a troubling clinical situation with limited treatment options. "Post-meniscectomy syndrome" occurs at a rate of 4-25% and is defined as the presence of knee pain and functional limitations due to increased contact stresses and overload of the articular cartilage in a knee compartment, after subtotal or total meniscectomy. Meniscal allograft transplantation (MAT) can have reasonable results for some patients, typically under the age of 50, with no degenerative change, and no, or correctable instability or malalignment. However, MAT is expensive, it is often difficult to access meniscal allograft tissue, and the procedure can be technically challenging for the surgeon. Meniscal scaffolds have been commercially available and examined in small studies in the literature and metanalyses since the early 2000s. Generally, patients have shown clinical improvement with their use, but over time, they have shown signs of radiologic failure (decrease in size of the meniscal scaffold, meniscal extrusion on MRI, or other radiographic changes.) Nonetheless, recent research shows long-term survivorship of a polyurethane scaffold in some, carefully selected patients. While not shown to be chondroprotective, this could serve as a bridge to MAT or arthroplasty.