Partial or total meniscectomy: a comparative analysis.

We studied a total of 128 cases of meniscectomy, eighty-nine total and thirty-nine partial, and evaluated the relative postoperative morbidity. The patients who had a partial meniscectomy had a shorter hospital stay and spent less time using crutches. Those with a total meniscectomy had four times the incidence of major postoperative complications. Partial meniscectomy gave better subjective functional results and better anatomical results in all the criteria studied.