Repair of peripheral meniscus tears. A preliminary report

Degenerative joint disease in the knee following meniscus injury and/or surgical removal of the meniscus is an accepted fact. In an attempt to reduce the severity of the degenerative joint disease, 27 patients underwent 29 repairs of tears in the peripheral one-third of the meniscus. Twenty-four were medial, and 5 were lateral. Twenty of the patients were men; 7 were women. Ages of the patients ranged from 13 to 34 years. The surgical technique involved resuturing of the meniscus to the capsule and/or ligaments after debriding the peripheral edge of the tear. Followup ranged from 6 to 17 months. Three out of 9 patients with slight pain still had some swelling or effusion in the knee intermittently. One of these had a sensation of giving way but no actual buckling. Two of the patients had not returned to full activity 6 months after their surgery. Four patients have had postoperative arthrograms, all of which show evidence of complete healing. Two repairs have been directly visualized, and the suture lines are healed. The follow-up data support the conclusion that repair of peripheral tears of the meniscus is possible. However, longer followup is needed to determine the long-lasting effects of meniscus repair and their role in preventing progressive degenerative change within the knee.