CHICAGO — Location of the meniscus injury prior to meniscectomy determined shift in weightbearing line, according to results presented at the International Cartilage Repair Society Annual Meeting.
“We did show that alignment and meniscus are related, but more research is needed to determine the type of meniscus damage and which comes first,” Karen K. Briggs, MD, said, here.
Researchers included 452 patients who underwent medial or lateral meniscectomy, completed a preoperative questionnaire and had long-leg standing radiographs. Researchers drew a line from the center of the femoral head to the center of the ankle joint, calculating the shift in weightbearing line as the ratio of distance between the center of knee joint at the point where the line intersected the knee and width of the compartment through which the line crossed.
Overall, 160 patients had medial meniscus tears, 165 had lateral meniscus tears and 127 had tears in lateral and medial menisci, but the researchers focused primarily on isolated lateral and isolated medial meniscectomy.
Briggs and colleagues found excellent inter-rater agreement in both surgical and non-surgical knees. Study results showed a mean shift in weightbearing line in nonsurgical knees of 16.5% medial malalignment in patients with lateral tears and of 24.5% medial malalignment in patients with medial tears, which were significantly correlated with surgical knees. Adjusted shift in weightbearing line was 8.5% medial malalignment in patients with medial tears, 10% lateral malalignment in patients with lateral tears and 4.5% medial malalignment in patients with medial and lateral tears, according to study results.
Briggs said there were significantly different adjusted shifts in weightbearing lines between the lateral and medial groups. – by Casey Tingle
Reference:
Briggs KK, et al. Shift in knee weightbearing line is associated with compartment of meniscus injury. Presented at: International Cartilage Repair Society Annual Meeting. May 8-11, 2015; Chicago.
Disclosure: Briggs reports she receives research support from Arthrex Inc., Ossur, Siemens and Smith & Nephew.
