Abstract
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.
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Maletius, W., Messner, K. Chondral damage and age depress the long-term prognosis after partial meniscectomy. Knee Surg, Sports traumatol, Arthroscopy 3, 211–214 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01466619
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01466619