Meniscal allograft transplantation in The Netherlands: long-term survival, patient-reported outcomes, and their association with preoperative complaints and interventions

van der Wal RJP, Nieuwenhuijse MJ, Spek RWA, Thomassen BJW, van Arkel ERA · Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy

Mean allograft survival was 16.1 years (95% CI 14.8 to 17.5). Each additional year of age at surgery raised the hazard of failure by 19% (HR 1.19, 95% CI 1.04 to 1.36, p=0.009). At a median 4.5 years of follow-up every KOOS subscale remained above baseline. Being under 35 at surgery, having the anterior cruciate ligament reconstructed at the same time, and the number of previous knee operations were each associated with lower KOOS scores; satisfaction and met expectations were associated with none of the preoperative characteristics.

Population

One hundred and nine consecutive patients given an arthroscopic meniscal allograft by a single surgeon between 1999 and 2017, having already had an average of 2.8 knee operations (range 1 to 14)

Intervention

Arthroscopic meniscal allograft transplantation

Limitations

A single-surgeon consecutive series with no comparator, so the survival curve describes this practice rather than the operation against an alternative. Level III. Median follow-up for the outcome scores is 4.5 years, well short of the survival estimate. The authors declare no conflict of interest and received no specific funding.