Revisiting Arthroscopic Partial Meniscectomy for Degenerative Tears in Knees With Mild or No Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Lee SH, Lee OS, Kim ST, Lee YS · Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine

Pooling the five trials, the meniscectomy arms showed no gain in functional activity over the conservative and sham arms, with no heterogeneity (I-squared 0%), and no significant reduction in pain, with heterogeneity ranging from 0% to 90%. The authors describe the result as relatively strong evidence in knees with mild or no osteoarthritis.

Population

Five randomised trials in knees with Kellgren-Lawrence grade 0 to 2 or Ahlback 0 to 1 — 296 knees having arthroscopic partial meniscectomy and 284 having conservative treatment or a sham operation

Intervention

Arthroscopic partial meniscectomy for a complete degenerative meniscal tear

Comparator

Conservative treatment in four trials, sham operation in one

Limitations

Five trials, only one of them sham-controlled, and the pain analysis is heterogeneous to the point where pooling is questionable. Full text was not retrievable.