Knee surgery for cartilage damage does not benefit patients, study suggests

A common knee surgery for cartilage damage does not benefit patients and may lead to worse outcomes, a 10-year trial suggests. The study tracked outcomes for patients treated for a meniscus tear, who were given a partial meniscectomy, one of the most common orthopaedic surgeries. Their trajectories were compared with patients who had randomly been assigned to receive “sham surgery”, in which no procedure was carried out. Patients who had undergone the surgery, which involves trimming frayed meniscus tissue, did not appear to benefit and scored worse on a range of measures designed to measure knee function, pain and progression of symptoms. Prof Teppo Järvinen, an orthopaedic surgeon and researcher at the University of Helsinki who led the study, said: “Our findings suggest that this may be an example of what is known as a medical reversal, where broadly used therapy proves ineffective or even harmful.” The meniscus is a C-shaped, rubbery pad of cartilage in the knee joint that acts as a shock absorber between the thigh bone and shin bone. There are two in each knee. A meniscus tear, in which the edges of the tissue become frayed, can occur due to a sudden twist of the knee while playing sport. Damage can also occur gradually over time and MRI scans often reveal meniscal tears in healthy people with no symptoms. “We now know that these meniscal tears are very frequently found in patients with no symptoms,” said Järvinen. …