title: Current status of second-look arthroscopy after meniscal allograft transplantation: review of the literature.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Clinical assessments do not accurately reflect the status of meniscal transplants and cannot evaluate the graft condition itself and joint preservation effects of meniscal allograft transplantation correctly. The purpose of this review was to assess the need and to ascertain the indication and the role of second-look arthroscopy for objective evaluation after MAT.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a literature search to identify all published clinical studies on MAT with the following medical subject heading (MeSH) terms: "meniscus," "meniscal transplant," "transplantation and allograft," "meniscal and transplant." Include in the review are studies with at least 6 months clinical, radiological, and/or histological follow-up in human subjects. Evaluation method of MAT was reviewed with an aim to describe the frequency of second-look arthroscopy, its feasibility, patient compliance, purposes, and results.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We identified 15 clinical studies that satisfied our inclusion and exclusion criteria. Only two studies always performed second-look arthroscopies. Most of the second-look arthroscopy was conducted mainly for the objective evaluation of meniscal allograft transplantation but, in several studies, arthroscopy was performed to treatment of other knee problem.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although second-look arthroscopy has inevitably ethical issues, especially for asymptomatic and well-functioning knees, in this review, it could be a more dependable method available to detect meniscal healing if performed for certain indications such as a symptomatic patient with a magnetic resonance image indicating abnormalities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, KonKuk University Medical Center, KonKuk University School of Medicine, 120-1, Neungdong-ro, Gwang-jin-gu, Seoul, 143-729, South Korea. damioh@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Kwang-Jun
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, KonKuk University Medical Center, KonKuk University School of Medicine, 120-1, Neungdong-ro, Gwang-jin-gu, Seoul, 143-729, South Korea. anshulsobti@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Anshul Shyam
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Sobti
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Veterans Health Service Medical Center, 53, Jinhwangdo-ro, Gangdong-gu, Seoul, 134-791, South Korea. zenyjr@yahoo.co.kr.
authors.forename: Jung-Ro
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, KonKuk University Medical Center, KonKuk University School of Medicine, 120-1, Neungdong-ro, Gwang-jin-gu, Seoul, 143-729, South Korea. yb0217@hanmail.net.
authors.forename: Young-Bong
authors.initials: YB
authors.lastname: Ko
mesh_terms: D064591:Allografts; D001182:Arthroscopy / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007718:Knee Injuries / Q000601:surgery*; D008592:Menisci, Tibial / Q000601:surgery*; D024162:Second-Look Surgery / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Meniscus; Objective evaluation; Second-look arthroscopy; Transplantation