Clinical outcomes following transtibial medial meniscal root repair are maintained at long‐term follow‐up

• Published in: Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA, 2024-11, Vol.32 (11), p.2959-2966
• Main Authors: Moore, Michael, Levitt, Sarah, Lin, Charles C., Wolfe, Isabel, Alaia, Erin, Meislin, Robert, Strauss, Eric J., Jazrawi, Laith, Alaia, Michael J., Kaplan, Daniel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: conversion to TKA; long‐term outcomes; patient‐reported outcomes; posterior medial meniscus root repair
• ISSN: 0942-2056; 1433-7347; 1433-7347
• DOI: 10.1002/ksa.12321

Purpose To evaluate long‐term outcomes of patients treated with posterior medial meniscal root tear (PMMRT) repair through assessment of functional outcome scores and to identify patient surgical and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) characteristics associated with improved outcomes. Methods This was a single‐centre, retrospective study evaluating patients who had undergone a PMMR repair using a transtibial suture pullout technique with two locking cinch sutures. This was performed as a follow‐up to previously published 2‐year and 5‐year outcome studies, using the same cohort. All patients from the prior short‐term and midterm studies were invited to participate. Patient‐reported outcome (PROs) scores, including the International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) and Lysholm scores, were collected. Previously collected demographic data were updated based on review of the electronic medical record. Patient outcomes were assessed preoperatively, as well as at 2‐year, 5‐year and 8‐year postoperatively. MRI outcome measurements were assessed at 2‐year and 5‐year follow‐ups. All statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 26. Results Seventeen patients of the original 18 patients (94.4%) were included in the final analysis. Additionally, three patients who had additional ipsilateral surgery were excluded from the analysis of PROs. The IKDC score significantly increased from 44.7 ± 11.6 at preoperative baseline to 71.2 ± 21.3 at 8‐year post‐operation (p = 0.001). There were no significant differences in IKDC score between 2‐year and 8‐year follow‐ups (p = n.s.) or 5‐year and 8‐year follow‐ups (p = n.s.). The Lysholm score significantly increased from 49.6 ± 7.3 at preoperative baseline to 76.4 ± 17.2 at 8‐year follow‐up (p