Editorial Commentary: Meniscal Posterior Root to Bone Postoperative Healing Appears Incomplete at 24 Weeks in a Goat...

The goal of many orthopaedic surgeries is to mechanically stabilize the tissue long enough for biological healing to occur. The healed tissue should be able to bear the load before the mechanical device (screw, suture, anchor, etc.) eventually fails. Recent research shows that in a goat model, meniscus posterior root repair to bone is not fully healed at 24 weeks postoperatively (after the suture is removed and under biomechanical and histologic testing). In addition, magnetic resonance imaging at 24 months postoperatively showed persistent meniscal extrusion but only under mechanical loading. Of course, in clinical practice, repair sutures are not removed and continue to provide mechanical stability until they either fail, the tissue-suture interface fails, or the meniscus root is healed enough to resist the load. Nevertheless, we need to be mindful of time to healing, weightbearing, and return to activity in human patients.