Arthroscopic Repair of Extruded Meniscus Tears: Impact on Symptom Relief and Functional Improvement - A 2-Year Follow-Up Study.

BACKGROUND This retrospective study from a single center in Turkey aimed to evaluate 2-year outcomes of 21 patients undergoing knee arthroscopic repair of extruded meniscus tears without root tear. MATERIAL AND METHODS The retrospective study comprised 21 individuals who underwent arthroscopic extruded meniscus repair and were followed up for at least 2 years. The study analyzed the meniscus extrusion amounts in preoperative and postoperative MRI scans, the Kellgren-Lawrence stages in knee radiographs, and the Lsyhom and The International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) scores of the included patients. RESULTS In this study, the repair operation extrusion levels were 3.30 mm from 4.01 mm preoperatively (P<0.001). After the repair, there was a significant increase in the Lsyhom and IKDC scores (P<0.001). According to the Kellgren-Lawrence scale, 12 patients were evaluated as stage 0, 6 patients as stage 1, and 3 patients as stage 2. According to the radiographs taken at the last follow-up, 2 patients progressed from stage 0 to stage 1, 2 patients progressed from stage 1 to stage 2, and 1 patient progressed from stage 2 to stage 3. CONCLUSIONS Arthroscopic treatment of extruded meniscus tears can enhance functional status and increase patients' functional status. Nevertheless, the absence of successful centralization extruded meniscus tears. This study discovered that radiological extrusion did not diminish beyond the critical threshold of 3 mm, which is associated with the development of osteoarthritis. This highlights the necessity of taking these elements into account when devising a treatment plan.