Arthroscopic repair of the bucket-handle meniscus: 10 failures in 27 stable knees followed for 3 years

Abstract

In a total of 535 meniscal lesions diagnosed by arthroscopy, 54 patients had their meniscus sutured arthroscopically. 25 cases were excluded from the study due to concomitant ligamentous injury, while 2 were lost to follow-up, leaving 27 cases of arthroscopic repair of isolated bucket-handle meniscal tears for review. 8 cases had the repaired meniscus partially resected later due to recurring symptoms. The remaining 19 cases were scored for knee function and activity after a median observation time of 36 (18–52) months. 15 of 19 patients with a supposedly healed meniscus had normal knee function, i.e., unchanged compared to preinjury levels, but a slight drop in median activity score. With 8 re-ruptures and 2 patients who stated result as poor, the 10/27 failure rate was rather high. Our results are not as good as most reported previously.