[The value of arthroscopy in the management of anteromedial lesions of the knee joint. A therapy concept].

Based on the clinical findings from twenty-seven patients over a mean follow-up period of 27 months, a therapeutic management plan for anteromedial lesions of the knee is presented. This is based both on the usual instability tests in narcosis and on accurate arthroscopic evaluation of the lesion to the medial ligamentous apparatus. Additional open reconstruction of the posteromedial ligamentous apparatus was only performed in cases of arthroscopic lesions Type III after arthroscopic management of all internal knee-joint injuries. The average period of rehabilitation was 10 weeks in the case of Type I lesions and 16 weeks in the case of Type III lesions. This compares with results following conservative treatment. At follow-up, 66% of the knee-joints were found to be stable in the Lachman test, and 81.5% were stable in the abduction stress test. Excellent and good results were achieved in 96.2% of cases according to the Lysholm scoring scale. The advantages of arthroscopy lie not only in the possibility of treating all internal knee-joint injuries including the deeper layers of the medial ligamentous apparatus, but also in protecting the vastus medialis, which is of particular importance for the prognosis of anteromedial lesions.