Partial meniscectomy is one of the most common orthopaedic surgeries worldwide to treat knee pain and instability caused by damage to the meniscus—the crescent-shaped cartilage that cushions the knee joint.
However, a Finnish study published in The New England Journal of Medicine found that the procedure does not improve knee pain or function over the long term and may lead to worse outcomes.
“Our findings suggest that this may be an example of what is known as a medical reversal, where broadly used therapy proves ineffective or even harmful,” the senior researcher said.
The study involved 146 patients, aged 35 to 65, with degenerative meniscal tears. They were randomised to undergo either a partial meniscectomy or sham surgery.
A 10-year follow-up found that partial meniscectomy provided no greater improvement in symptoms or functional outcomes than sham surgery. In fact, patients who underwent the procedure had worse symptoms, greater functional decline, faster progression of osteoarthritis, and a higher likelihood of requiring additional knee surgery.
Radiographic images showed that about 81 per cent of patients who received a partial meniscectomy had significant progression of osteoarthritis, compared with 70 per cent of those who underwent sham surgery. In addition, 12 per cent of patients in the meniscectomy group underwent knee replacement or high tibial osteotomy, compared with 4 per cent in the sham-surgery group.
Although several studies have shown that partial meniscectomy does not improve symptoms or function, the procedure remains widely used in many countries.
According to the researchers, pain in joints such as the knee is often linked to age-related degenerative changes that cannot be corrected with surgery.
