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Arthroscopic meniscal allograft transplantation without bone plugs

  • Knee
  • Published:
Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy Aims and scope

Abstract

Partial or total meniscectomy are common procedures performed at Orthopedic Surgery departments. Despite providing a great relief of pain, it has been related to early onset knee osteoarthritis. Meniscal allograft transplantation has been proposed as an alternative to meniscectomy. The purposes of this study were to describe an arthroscopic meniscal allograft transplantation without bone plugs technique and to report the preliminary results. All meniscal allograft transplantations performed between 2001 and 2006 were approached for eligibility, and a total of 35 patients (involving 37 menisci) were finally engaged in the study. Patients were excluded if they had ipsilateral knee ligament reconstruction or cartilage repair surgery before meniscal transplantation or other knee surgeries after the meniscal transplantation. Scores on Lysholm, Subjective IKDC Form, and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) scale for pain were obtained at a mean follow-up of 38.6 months and compared to pre-operative data. Data on chondral lesions were obtained during the arthroscopic procedure and through imaging (radiographs and MRI) studies pre-operatively. Two graft failures out of 59 transplants (3.4%) were found. Daily life accidents were responsible for all graft failures. Significant improvements for Lysholm, Subjective IKDC Form, and VAS for pain scores following the meniscal allograft transplantation were found (P < 0.0001). Controlling for chondral lesion, there was no significant interactions for Lysholm (n.s.), Subjective IKDC Form (n.s.), and VAS for pain scores (n.s.). This study demonstrated that an arthroscopic meniscal allograft transplantation without bone plugs improved knee function and symptoms after a total meniscectomy. Improvements were observed independently of the degree of chondral lesion.

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Acknowledgments

The following surgical technique was developed after doing an anatomical study with frozen specimens in the Department of Anatomy, University of Barcelona Medical School—Casanova Campus. We thank Oscar Fariñas, Pau Golano and Iván Saez for their efficient and professional assistance. We also thank Gonzalo Samitier for his excellent contributions to this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Artroscopia G.C., Hospital Quirón, plaza Alfonso Comín 5-7, 08023, Barcelona, Spain

    Eduard Alentorn-Geli, Roberto Seijas Vázquez, Montserrat García Balletbó, Pedro Álvarez Díaz, Xavier Cuscó Segarra & Ramón Cugat Bertomeu

  2. Mutualidad de Futbolistas Españoles, Federación Española de Fútbol, Delegación Cataluña, Barcelona, Spain

    Pedro Álvarez Díaz, Gilbert Steinbacher, Marta Rius Vilarrubia & Ramón Cugat Bertomeu

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  1. Eduard Alentorn-Geli
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  2. Roberto Seijas Vázquez
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Correspondence to Ramón Cugat Bertomeu.

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Alentorn-Geli, E., Seijas Vázquez, R., García Balletbó, M. et al. Arthroscopic meniscal allograft transplantation without bone plugs. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc 19, 174–182 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-010-1123-3

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