Arthroscopic meniscal repair with fibrin glue.

Since 1984 we have arthroscopically repaired 40 meniscal tears in 32 patients using fibrin glue in our operative technique. This technique was reported initially in 1985 (Ishimura M, Samma M, Habata T, Fujisawa Y. The use of fibrin glue for fresh knee injury. Cent Jpn Orthop Traumat 1985; 28:1404-8), with a more detailed study published in 1987 [Ishimura M, Samma M, Fujisawa Y, et al. Arthroscopic repair of the meniscus tears with fibrin glue. Arthroscopy (Jpn) 1987;12:31-6]. During the follow-up period, which ranged from 10 months to 6 years and 7 months (mean: 3 years and 8 months), only two patients complained of meniscal symptoms and underwent arthroscopic partial meniscectomy. Twenty patients with 25 repairs underwent repeat arthroscopy at an average of 5.7 months (range: 2 months-1 year and 2 months) after the initial repair. Twenty repairs were rated as good, four as fair, and one as poor by arthroscopic evaluation criteria. At present, the most appropriate use of this arthroscopic meniscal gluing technique is in tears in the posterior segment, which are difficult to suture without arthrotomy. Even a long tear with a stable reduced position can be expected to show good healing. When reduction of the tear is not stable, additional sutures should be used.