Trial reportBMJ open2018
Better outcome from arthroscopic partial meniscectomy than skin incisions only? A sham-controlled randomised trial in patients aged 35-55 years with knee pain and an MRI-verified meniscal tear.
Trial report in BMJ open, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT01264991 (The Benefit of Arthroscopic Partial Meniscectomy in Middle-Aged Patients - A Double-Blinded Randomized Placebo), which is not on this map. Cited by 19 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
The Benefit of Arthroscopic Partial Meniscectomy in Middle-Aged Patients - A Double-Blinded Randomized Placebo (Sham) Controlled Multi-Centre Trial
Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 46 citations in OpenAlex.
- Surgery for early structural osteoarthritis of the hip and knee: the SCORE evidence synthesis and economic evaluation.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2026Pooled it
- Patients with discoid menisci have similar clinical outcomes to those without discoid menisci when undergoing surgical intervention: a systematic review.Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA · 2023Pooled it
- No evidence in support of arthroscopic partial meniscectomy in adults with degenerative and nonobstructive meniscal symptoms: a level I evidence-based systematic review.Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA · 2023Pooled it
- Arthroscopic surgery for degenerative knee disease (osteoarthritis including degenerative meniscal tears).The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Surgical interventions for symptomatic mild to moderate knee osteoarthritis.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2019Pooled it
- Treatment of post-meniscectomy knee symptoms with medial meniscus replacement results in greater pain reduction and functional improvement than non-surgical care.Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA · 2022Trial
- Knowledge translation and exercise for degenerative meniscal pathology and early osteoarthritis (KNEE-DEeP): Protocol for a single arm feasibility study.HRB open research · 2025Article
- A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Medial Meniscus Root Tears: Is Surgery the Key to Better Outcomes?Cureus · 2024Review
- The corruption of power: On the use and abuse of a pre-trial concept.Experimental physiology · 2024Article
- Arthroscopic partial meniscectomy for the degenerative meniscus tear: a comparison of patients included in RCTs and prospective cohort studies.Acta orthopaedica · 2023Article
- The value of reducing arthroscopic partial meniscectomy in the treatment of degenerative meniscus tears: a budget impact analysis.International journal of technology assessment in health care · 2023Article
- Cost-Effectiveness of Arthroscopic Partial Meniscectomy and Physical Therapy for Degenerative Meniscal Tear.ACR open rheumatology · 2022Article
- Current Controversies in Arthroscopic Partial Meniscectomy.Current reviews in musculoskeletal medicine · 2022Review
- Treatment of the syndrome of knee pain and meniscal tear in middle-aged and older persons: A narrative review.Osteoarthritis and cartilage open · 2022Article
- The effect of animated consent material on participants' willingness to enrol in a placebo-controlled surgical trial: a protocol for a randomised feasibility study.Pilot and feasibility studies · 2021Article
- Knee arthroscopy: evidence for a targeted approach.British journal of sports medicine · 2020Article
- Article
- Knee Arthroscopic Surgery in Middle-Aged Patients With Meniscal Symptoms: A 5-Year Follow-up of a Prospective, Randomized Study.Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine · 2020Article
- Maximum subjective outcome improvement is reported by 3 Months following arthroscopic partial meniscectomy: A systematic review.Journal of orthopaedicsReview
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveCompare arthroscopic partial meniscectomy to a true sham intervention.
methodsSham-controlled superiority trial performed in three county hospitals in Denmark comparing arthroscopic partial meniscectomy to skin incisions only in patients aged 35-55 years with persistent knee pain and an MRI-confirmed medial meniscus lesion. A computer-generated table of random numbers generated two comparison groups. Participants and outcome assessors were blinded to group allocation. Exclusions were locking knees, high-energy trauma or severe osteoarthritis. Outcomes were collected at baseline, 3 and 24 months. We hypothesised no difference between groups. The primary outcome was the between-group difference in change from baseline to 2 years in the mean score across all five normalised Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) subscales (KOOS
resultsForty-four patients (of the estimated 72) underwent randomisation; 22 in each group. Sixteen participants (36%) were non-blinded and eight participants (36%) from the sham group crossed over to the surgery group prior to the 2-year follow-up. At 2 years, both groups reported clinically relevant improvements (surgery 21.8, skin incisions only 13.6), the mean difference between groups was 8.2 in favour of surgery, which is slightly less than the cut-off of 10 prespecified to represent a clinically relevant difference; judged by the 95% CI (-3.4 to 19.8), a possibility of clinically relevant difference could not be excluded. In total, nine participants experienced 11 adverse events; six in the surgery group and three in the skin-incisions-only group.
conclusionWe found greater improvement from arthroscopic partial meniscectomy compared with skin incisions only at 2 years, with the statistical uncertainty of the between-group difference including what could be considered clinically relevant. Because of the study being underpowered, nearly half in the sham group being non-blinded and one-third crossing over to surgery, the results cannot be generalised to the greater patient population. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT01264991.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.