title: Arthroscopic resection of medial plica of the knee in young adults.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the long-term results of arthroscopic resection of a medial plica and to describe the usefulness of the clinical findings and MRI for preoperative diagnostics. From the baseline population of 172,777 military conscripts, thirty-three consecutive young adult patients with normal preoperative MRIs of the knee and a sole postoperative diagnosis of medial plica were treated with arthroscopic plica resection. Functional outcome was evaluated at a final follow-up in 25 patients with 34 knees with Kujala, Lysholm and visual analog scale (VAS) scores. Functional results were excellent to good in 17 patients, fair in three patients, and poor in 3 patients. The median Kujala score was 92 (25-100), the median Lysholm score 89 (26-100), and the median VAS 1.4 (0-8.8). Median follow-up time was 6.6 years (3.6-8.7 years). Most patients had no history of direct knee trauma preceding the symptoms. No statistically significant correlation was seen between MRI classification of the plica size or clinical findings compared to arthroscopic classification. Resection of the medial plica in a symptomatic knee has good to excellent functional long-term outcome in the majority of cases, and the procedure is not associated with postoperative complications. MRI and preoperative clinical examination seem to be unreliable in detecting medial plicae.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Military Medicine, Research Department, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weckström
authors.forename: Maria H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Niva
authors.forename: Antti
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lamminen
authors.forename: Ville M
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Mattila
authors.forename: Harri K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Pihlajamäki
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001182:Arthroscopy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D007592:Joint Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D000074402:Synovectomy; D013583:Synovial Membrane / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult