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Meniscus Degenerative

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Orthopaedic Sports Medicine

Abstract

Degenerative meniscus tears are frequent in the general population. Usually they are developed slowly and involve multiple tear configurations with horizontal cleavage. Patients with degenerative meniscus pathology usually complain compartmental knee pain with or without mechanical symptoms. Patients are usually over 30 years of age and often complain of an insidious onset of symptoms without known traumatic events. Some risk factors cannot be changed, but targeted interventions on modifiable factors might have a significant impact on the natural history of such lesions. There is now a consensus in the literature that arthroscopic meniscectomy should not be proposed as a first line of treatment for degenerative meniscus lesions. Surgical treatment can be proposed in patients with degenerative meniscal tears with persistent pain after at least 3 months of conservative treatment. The presence of considerable mechanical symptoms like clicking or briefly locking knees constitutes a special case in which early arthroscopic treatment may be indicated.

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Abbreviations

BMI:

Body mass index

MRI:

Magnetic resonance imaging

NSAIDs:

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs

ROM:

Range of motion

TKR:

Total knee replacement

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Correspondence to Joan Carles Monllau .

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Perelli, S., Melo-Mesa, L.A., Costa, G.G., Morales-Avalos, R., Monllau, J.C. (2023). Meniscus Degenerative. In: Espregueira-Mendes, J., Karlsson, J., Musahl, V., Ayeni, O.R. (eds) Orthopaedic Sports Medicine. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65430-6_40-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65430-6_40-1

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