Nonoperative treatment of degenerative posterior

Authors: Hong Chul Lim Ji Hoon Bae Joon Ho Wang Chang Woo Seok Min Keun Kim

Publish Date: 2009/08/27

Volume: 18, Issue: 4, Pages: 535-539

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Abstract

We reviewed thirty patients with degenerative posterior root tear of the medial meniscus to investigate clinical results of nonoperative treatment retrospectively There were 3 men and 27 women at a median age of 59 years old range 51–65 The median followup period was 36 months range 24–51 Nonoperative treatments included nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs daily for 8–12 weeks and supervised physical therapy twice a week at least during a period of 8 weeks The symptoms physical signs the Visual Analog Scale pain the Lysholm Knee Scoring scale and IKDC subjective activity level were analyzed at the time of preintervention 6 months 12 months and the final followups Most patients had intense mechanical pain initially but the severity and frequency of pain was decreased within 3 months Clinical outcome was improved at 12 months followup and then declined to a level that was still improved over initial scores at final followup Two patients with Kellgren–Lawrence grade 2 progressed to grade 3 at the median followup of 36 months In conclusion this study demonstrated that nonoperative treatment provided symptomatic relief in most patients with the degenerative posterior root tear of the medial meniscus and functional improvements in a short term followup

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