Outcomes of Combined Lateral Meniscus Posterior Root Repair and Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction.

BACKGROUND

Lateral meniscus posterior root tears (LMPRTs) almost always occur in association with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears. Their repair is advocated to restore the stabilizing and load-sharing functions of the meniscus.

PURPOSE

To study the functional outcomes of combined arthroscopic repair of LMPRTs and ACL reconstruction (ACLR).

STUDY DESIGN

Case series; Level of evidence, 4.

METHODS

The authors evaluated patients who underwent simultaneous arthroscopic ACLR and LMPRT repair. All patients had chronic injuries, with a mean time since ACL rupture of 7.9 months. Patient characteristics, Lachman and pivot-shift test results, type of LMPRT, associated injuries, and surgery details were documented. Pre- and postoperative functional status was assessed using the International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) score, Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS), and Lysholm score. An independent single-tunnel transtibial repair using 2 SutureTapes was performed for Forkel type 1 and 3 tear root avulsions, while side-to-side suture repair was performed for type 2 radial/oblique tears. The Wilcoxon signed rank test and minimal clinically important difference (MCID) of the IKDC score were used for statistical analysis.

RESULTS

Included were 25 patients with a mean age of 29.6 ± 6.5 years. Of these, 22 patients (88%; 95% CI, 73.1%-100%) had a high-grade (grade 2 or 3) preoperative pivot shift. Diagnosis of the LMPRT on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans was possible only in 5 patients (20%). At final evaluation, performed at 37.4 ± 7.1 months postoperatively, all functional scores had improved significantly from preoperatively: IKDC score, from 47.6 ± 9.5 to 81.8 ± 11.5; KOOS, from 45.5 ± 10.9 to 86.5 ± 10.3, and Lysholm score, from 49.0 ± 11.5 to 88.8 ± 7.6 ( < .001 for all). Twenty-four patients (96%) achieved the MCID for the IKDC score. All knees had a negative pivot shift at final analysis, and no patient underwent revision ACLR or LMPRT repair.

CONCLUSION

LMPRT repair combined with ACLR led to good short-term clinical outcomes in this study. An LMPRT may frequently go undetected on preoperative MRI scans, but a high-grade pivot shift is present in a large majority of these patients.