Arthroscopic cystectomy and open surgery for the treatment of popliteal cysts: a retrospective clinical cohort study.

PURPOSE

To compare the clinical effects of arthroscopic cystectomy and open surgery for the treatment of popliteal cysts, in order to provide clinical basis for the selection of surgical plan for popliteal cyst.

METHODS

A retrospective study was conducted on the clinical data of 153 patients diagnosed with popliteal cysts from January 2020 to December 2022. Among them, 77 patients underwent arthroscopic cystectomy as the observation group, and 76 patients underwent open surgery as the control group. Compared the surgical related indicators, Rauschening and Lindgren grade, Lysholm and VAS scores between two groups. Follow up on postoperative complications and cyst recurrence.

RESULTS

The observation group had a smaller incision length (P < 0.01), less intraoperative bleeding (P < 0.05), and shorter hospitalization time than the control group (P < 0.01), but longer surgical time (P < 0.05). Both groups of patients showed significant improvement in Rauschening and Lindgren grade, Lysholm and VAS scores after surgery, with the observation group superior to the control group(P < 0.05&P < 0.01). Follow up for 13-25 months (16.34 ± 4.25) after surgery showed no complications in the observation group, while there were two cases of nerve injury in the control group, with no statistically significant difference (P > 0.05). There were two cases of postoperative recurrence in the observation group with no symptoms and nine cases of recurrence in the control group with mild symptoms and did not require further treatment, which had statistical difference (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Arthroscopic cystectomy and oper surgery both have definite clinical efficacy in treating popliteal cyst, which relying on prospective research to determine the optimal solution.