Transosseous Repair of Root Tears of the Lateral Meniscus: Operative Technique and Short-Term Clinical Follow-Up of 28 Patients

An avulsion of the posterior tibial insertion of the lateral meniscus occurs during rotational distortion of the knee and can be associated with a tear of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). We performed a follow-up of 28 patients who, following anatomical ACL reconstruction using the ipsilateral semitendinosus graft, underwent either transosseous repair of the posterior lateral meniscus root (n=14) or no intervention (n=14). The meniscus root tears were classified as Forkel I lesions. All patients were examined 6 months after surgery and undertook scoring using International Knee Documentation Committee Score (IKDC). Comparing the repair group with the no repair group the subjective IKDC 6 months after surgery was 75,72% (±1,019) and 75,56 (±1,058). Regarding the objective IKDC 8 × A (57,1%) and 6 × B (42,9%) could be ascertained in the repair group whereas 6 × A (42,9%), 6 × B (42,9%), and 2 × C (14,3%) scoring could be ascertained in the no repair group. It remains unclear if surgery on type Forkel I PLMRT provides benefits compared to the nonsurgical procedures as in both groups stability might occur. The purpose of this article was to report the outcome of surgical repair of lateral meniscus root tears