title: Why lateral meniscectomy is more dangerous than medial meniscectomy. A finite element study.
abstract: Total meniscectomies are commonly thought to cause progressive degenerative arthrosis pathology in articular cartilage in a period of a few years because of alteration of the biomechanical environment including increased joint instability. This concern has lead to a preference for partial meniscectomies, although lateral partial meniscectomies sometimes lead to catastrophic results. We performed a three-dimensional finite element model of the human tibiofemoral joint to examine the effect of lateral meniscectomy on knee biomechanics. The results were compared to those from modeling a medial meniscectomy. Under axial femoral compressive loads, the peak contact stress and maximum shear stress in the articular cartilage increased 200% more after a lateral than a medial meniscectomy. These increased stresses could partly explain the higher cartilage degeneration observed after a lateral meniscectomy.
authors.affiliation: Group of Structural Mechanics and Material Modeling, Aragon Institute for Engineering Research (ISA) University of Zaragoza, Marí de Luna 3, E-50018, Zaragoza, Spain. fany@unizgr.es
authors.forename: Estefania
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Peña
authors.forename: Begoña
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Calvo
authors.forename: Miguel Angel
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Martinez
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Palanca
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Doblaré
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001182:Arthroscopy; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D020342:Finite Element Analysis; D006801:Humans; D008592:Menisci, Tibial / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D033081:Shear Strength; D013314:Stress, Mechanical