Failure rates of meniscal repairs during anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction using different meniscal repair devices.

BACKGROUND

Meniscal tears concurrent with anterior cruciate ligament tears affect patients' mobility and quality of life. This study sought to evaluate the meniscal-related reoperation rate by meniscal device.

METHODS

A retrospective, comparative study design was conducted. Using the New Zealand ACL Registry two device groups were identified, patients the received TRUESPAN™ (DePuy Synthes, Raynham MA) (Device A) and patients that received one of two unspecified branded devices (Device B or C). The rate of meniscal-related reoperation was estimated. Cox proportional hazard models were run to compare rates.

RESULTS

Device A group had 1332 patients and Device B/C group had 3105 patients. Device A had a similar reoperation rate as Device B (0.041 versus 0.03 cases/100 person-years, p-value = 0.275) and a statistically significantly lower rate than Device C and B/C (0.131 and 0.125 cases/100 person-years, p <0.001 for both). This trend was similar across age, gender and graft type subgroups. Compared to Device A, Device C and Device B/C had higher reoperation risks (hazard ratio, p-value: 3.995, <0.001; 3.623, <0.001) and Device B had no significantly different risks (0.509, 0.269).

CONCLUSION

Compared to Device A, meniscal reoperation rates were significantly higher in Device C and not significantly different to Device B.