How Successful are Meniscus Repair All-Inside Implants during Deployment?

Area of Science:

• Orthopaedic Surgery
• Biomedical Engineering
• Sports Medicine

Background:

• Meniscal tears are common knee injuries requiring surgical intervention.
• Arthroscopic all-inside meniscal repair is a prevalent surgical technique.
• Implant performance is critical for successful meniscal repair outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the percentage of implants successfully deployed during arthroscopic all-inside meniscal repair.
• To assess the intra-operative failure or waste rate of various meniscal repair implants.
• To identify specific implants with higher failure rates in clinical practice.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective data query of meniscus repair procedures (CPT codes 29882, 29883) from June 2020 to June 2023.
• Analysis of implant usage and intra-operative failure data from a single institution.
• Calculation of implant success rate by dividing wasted implants by total implants used.

Main Results:

• A total of 1,026 patients and 3,867 meniscal implants were analyzed.
• The overall implant failure or waste rate was low at 1.03% (40 out of 3,867 implants).
• Specific implants exhibited higher failure rates: JuggerStitchTM Curved (9.38%), NOVOSTITCHTM Cartridge 0 Suture (2.44%), and TRUESPANTM 12 Degrees (2.11%).

Conclusions:

• The overall failure rate for implants used in arthroscopic all-inside meniscal repair is low.
• Certain implants demonstrate higher waste rates, necessitating attention from manufacturers and surgeons.
• Further research into implant failure rates and associated costs in meniscal repair is recommended.