Arthroscopic repair of traumatic longitudinal meniscal tears. A 3 to 5-year follow-up.

The healing potential of the meniscal tissue has been known for a century but has only been broadly introduced into surgical treatment during the last years. Open surgical suture of the meniscus has increasingly been replaced by arthroscopic refixation. We report 34 meniscal refixations with a minimal follow-up of at least 3 years and a mean of 4 years. Using our own simple and economic surgical technique, 34 refixations were performed in 32 patients from January 1987 to December 1988. All patients had traumatic meniscal tears close to the capsule. Frequently the injury was associated with a fresh or old rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament. Without additional trauma, one meniscus had to be partially resected after 4 months; a second one was partially resected in an unstable knee. Both the clinical examination and the satisfaction of the patient demonstrate that meniscal refixation is feasible and appropriate with a correct indication.