Chondral damage and age depress the long-term prognosis after partial meniscectomy. A 12- to 15-year follow-up study.
The effect of chondral damage and age on the long-term prognosis after partial meniscectomy was investigated in two matched groups of patients (n = 40), one with intact and the other with severely disrupted cartilage at the time of operation. Twelve to 15 years after meniscectomy a clinical and radiographic examination was done. Significantly more patients with intact cartilage (85%) than with chondral damage at operation (50%) had excellent or good knee function (P < 0.05). The activity levels decreased from active individual sports to physical fitness activities (P < 0.001), equally in both groups. Joint space reduction on roentgenograms was seen in 16 patients (80%) with chondral damage and in 6 patients (30%) with intact cartilage (P < 0.001). In addition to chondral damage, age over 30 years (P < 0.04) at the time of operation was associated with a worse functional (P < 0.03) and radiographic (P < 0.01) outcome.
Maletius
W
W
Klinik für Orthopädische Chirurgie, Kantonsspital, St. Gallen, Switzerland.
Messner
K
K
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001178:Arthroplasty / Q000379:methods*; D001182:Arthroscopy; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000473:pathology*; D004724:Endoscopy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007718:Knee Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008592:Menisci, Tibial / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010003:Osteoarthritis / Q000209:etiology; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012421:Rupture / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric