Cartilage injuries: a review of 31,516 knee arthroscopies

Curl WW, Krome J, Gordon ES, et al. · Arthroscopy

Chondral lesions were extremely common (53,569 lesions documented); grade IV lesions clustered on the medial femoral condyle, and 36.6% of under-40s with grade IV damage had no ligament or meniscus injury.

Population

31,516 knee arthroscopies in 19,827 patients (multicenter database, 1991-1995)

Intervention

N/A — prevalence survey of chondral lesions

Comparator

None

Limitations

Retrospective database; arthroscopy-referred population overstates prevalence in the general public.