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Arthroscopic treatment of the symptomatic discoid lateral meniscus improves the knee function in the long-term: a ten-year follow-up study

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Abstract

Purpose

Discoid lateral meniscus (DLM) is a common meniscal anatomic disorder and can cause irreversible knee consequences. The long-term clinical outcomes of DLM management remain unclear. Moreover, several potential factors would influence the long-term functional outcomes. The factors also remain unclear. This study aims to evaluate the long-term clinical outcomes of the arthroscopic management of the DLM and to identify the patients’ factors affecting the long-term results.

Methods

Medical records were retrospectively examined for patients with symptomatic unilateral DLM who underwent arthroscopic procedures between January 2004 and August 2011. The characteristics of DLM, the preoperative and the long-term postoperative visual analog scale (VAS), the International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) score, Lysholm, and Yulish scores were evaluated. Data were collected, processed, and analyzed using SAS software version 9.2. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify the factors influencing the long-term outcomes of the DLM arthroscopy.

Results

A total of 128 patients were included, most of whom were females (68.7%). The median age of the included participants was 24 (16–31) years old. The median duration of symptoms was 23.3 (10, 31) months, and the median follow-up duration was 126.2 (113, 140) months. The functional scores significantly improved postoperatively compared to the preoperative scores; VAS (1.65 ± 1.17 vs. 6.08 ± 1.31), Lysholm (91.39 ± 5.05 vs. 77.51 ± 10.19), and IKDC (84.63 ± 7.69 vs. 67.89 ± 9.56), respectively; p<0.05. Multivariate analysis revealed that gender, the status of self-reported instability, preoperative VAS, Yulish MR cartilage grade, and Lysholm score had a significant correlation with the worsening of the final follow-up IKDC scores.

Conclusions

Arthroscopic procedure significantly improved the long-term joint function of the DLM patients, as evidenced by the sustained improvement of the VAS, Lysholm, and IKDC scores. These clinical outcomes were greatly influenced by gender, the status of self-reported instability, preoperative Yulish MR cartilage grade, VAS, and Lysholm score.

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Data availability

The datasets used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, No.1 Shuai Fu Yuan, Wang Fu Jing Street, Beijing, 100730, China

    Xin Lu, Yu Fan, Jun Qian & Bo Yang

  2. Department of Radiology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, 100730, China

    Bo Jiang

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  4. Jun Qian
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Contributions

XL and JQ performed or participated in the study. XL wrote the paper. XL and YF interpreted the patient data. BJ analyzed the imaging data of the patients. BY and JQ revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jun Qian or Bo Yang.

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The study protocol was reviewed and approved by our Institutional Review Board (Approval No. S-K1342).

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Lu, X., Fan, Y., Jiang, B. et al. Arthroscopic treatment of the symptomatic discoid lateral meniscus improves the knee function in the long-term: a ten-year follow-up study. International Orthopaedics (SICOT) 47, 2449–2455 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00264-023-05941-4

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