Abstract
Aims: Meniscus repair has become the procedure of choice for the treatment of meniscal tears whenever possible. However, problems with healing of the repaired meniscus do exist. We have assessed both clinically and with MRI the outcome of meniscal ruptures treated with bioabsorbable arrows. Methods: 74 consecutive patients with 80 longitudinal vertical meniscal tears were treated using polylactide meniscus arrows (Bionx Implants Ltd, Tampere, Finland) during a three year period. Half of the patients had an old meniscal tear (> 6 weeks). The average length of the follow-up was 25 months (range, 6–56 months). The patients who had not received secondary surgery for failed repair during the follow-up period were examined clinically and with MRI. Results: 56 out of 80 meniscal ruptures (70%) healed clinically. However, in 7 of these asymptomatic patients the MRI showed partial healing. In repairs performed in conjunction with ligament reconstruction the healing rate was higher (82%) than in the isolated tears (62%). The poorest results were seen in the very long vertical tears with luxation of the meniscus (43% healing rate). Conclusions: Bioabsorbable arrows offer a good alternative for the treatment of meniscal ruptures, but special attention should be payed on the reliability of the þxation. In long and unstable tears we suggest combined þxation techniques to be used; arrows for the þxation of the posterior horn and inside-out sutures for the corpus area.
Theses abstracts were prepared by Professor Dr. Frantz Langlais. Correspondence should be addressed to him at EFORT Central Office, Freihofstrasse 22, CH-8700 Küsnacht, Switzerland.
