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Arthroscopic surgery for symptomatic discoid lateral meniscus improves meniscal status assessed by magnetic resonance imaging T2 mapping

  • Orthopaedic Surgery
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Abstract

Introduction

Discoid lateral meniscus (DLM) is an anatomic knee variant associated with increased tears and degeneration. This study aimed to quantify meniscal status with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) T2 mapping before and after arthroscopic reshaping surgery for DLM.

Materials and methods

We retrospectively reviewed the records of patients undergoing arthroscopic reshaping surgery for symptomatic DLM with ≥ 2-year follow-up. MRI T2 mapping was performed preoperatively and at 12 and 24 months postoperatively. T2 relaxation times of the anterior and posterior horns of both menisci and of the adjacent cartilage were assessed.

Results

Thirty-six knees from 32 patients were included. The mean age at surgery was 13.7 years (range 7–24), and the mean follow-up duration was 31.0 months. Saucerization alone was performed on five knees and saucerization with repair on 31 knees. Preoperatively, the T2 relaxation time of the anterior horn of the lateral meniscus was significantly longer than that of the medial meniscus (P < 0.01). T2 relaxation time significantly decreased at 12 and 24 months postoperatively (P < 0.01). Assessments of the posterior horn were comparable. The T2 relaxation time was significantly longer in the tear versus non-tear side at each time point (P < 0.01). There were significant correlations between the T2 relaxation time of the meniscus and that of the corresponding area of the lateral femoral condyle cartilage (anterior horn: r = 0.504, P = 0.002; posterior horn: r = 0.365, P = 0.029).

Conclusions

The T2 relaxation time of symptomatic DLM was significantly longer than that of the medial meniscus preoperatively, and it decreased 24 months after arthroscopic reshaping surgery. The meniscal T2 relaxation time of the tear side was significantly longer than that of the non-tear side. There were significant correlations between the cartilage and meniscal T2 relaxation times at 24 months after surgery.

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Data availability

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Editage Group for editing a draft of this manuscript.

Funding

No funding was received for conducting this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-4-3 Asahi-Machi, Abeno-Ku, Osaka, 545-8585, Japan

    Kazuya Nishino

  2. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Osaka Metropolitan University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan

    Yusuke Hashimoto & Hiroaki Nakamura

  3. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Saiseikai Nakatsu Hospital, Osaka, Japan

    Yohei Nishida

  4. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Osaka City General Hospital, Osaka, Japan

    Shinya Yamasaki

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  1. Kazuya Nishino
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  2. Yusuke Hashimoto
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  4. Shinya Yamasaki
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  5. Hiroaki Nakamura
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Contributions

KN: conception and design and drafting of the article. YH: conception, and critical revision of the article for important intellectual content. YN: interpretation of data. SY: critical revision of the manuscript. HN: conception and design, final approval of the article.

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Correspondence to Yusuke Hashimoto.

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This study was approved by the hospital ethics committee and the internal review board of our institution (2728). Informed consent was obtained from all study participants.

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Nishino, K., Hashimoto, Y., Nishida, Y. et al. Arthroscopic surgery for symptomatic discoid lateral meniscus improves meniscal status assessed by magnetic resonance imaging T2 mapping. Arch Orthop Trauma Surg 143, 4889–4897 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00402-023-04819-9

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