A new study published in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery may help establish reserve estimates for future medical care following meniscus transplant surgeries. While most patients younger than age 50 experienced reduced pain and improved knee function following transplant surgery, many patients required additional surgery within 10 years
The meniscus is a wedge-shaped piece of fibrocartilage in the knee that acts as a shock absorber between the thighbone and shinbone. For younger patients with knee pain after loss of the meniscus, a meniscus transplant is performed to maintain a cushion between the two bones. An orthopedic surgeon executes the knee surgery by using an arthroscope to accurately place and stitch new, transplanted meniscal tissue.
In the new study, researchers followed 38 meniscal transplant patients under age 50, who did not have arthritis, for an average of 11 years following surgery. The estimated probabilities of transplant survival were 88% at five years, 63% at ten years, and 40% at fifteen years. Worst-case survival rate estimates were 73% at five years, 68% at seven years, 48% at ten years, and 15% at fifteen years. The mean time to failure was 8.2 years for medial transplants and 7.6 years for lateral transplants.
“This data provides surgeons with reasonable percentages that encourage delaying additional major knee surgeries related to a damaged meniscus,” said Frank R. Noyes, MD, lead study author and founder of the Noyes Knee Institute at the Cincinnati Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center.
“However, the longer-term function of meniscus transplants remains questionable because the survivorship rate of the transplants decreases to between 40 and 15 percent at 15 years,” said Dr. Noyes. “Patients should be advised that this procedure is not curative in the long-term and additional surgery will most likely be necessary.”