Risk to the lateral geniculate artery during arthroscopic lateral meniscal suture passage.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the risk of lateral geniculate artery injury during suture passage through the lateral meniscus.

METHODS

Sutures were passed via inside-out and outside-in techniques in 11 embalmed cadaveric knees. The number of punctures of the lateral geniculate artery and quantitative distances of needle penetrations were measured.

RESULTS

The lateral geniculate artery was punctured 7 times during inside-out passes through the junction of the middle and anterior third of the meniscus and 8 times during passes through the body of the middle third of the meniscus. During outside-in passes, there were 5 punctures when passing anterior to the lateral collateral ligament and 4 punctures when posterior to the ligament.

CONCLUSIONS

The lateral geniculate artery is in close proximity to the lateral meniscus and is punctured often during in vitro inside-out meniscal repair in the embalmed cadaver model.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Methods of meniscal repair that do not violate the lateral geniculate artery may offer improved rates of healing and should be further evaluated.