Purpose

Our aim is to evaluate clinical results in a series of meniscal repair in patients over 40 years old. Reviewing the used technique, index and failure cause and return to sport.

Methods

We retrospectively reviewed our patients who underwent an arthroscopic meniscal repair between January 2012 and January 2018, with or without concomitant ACL reconstruction surgery. We excluded patients under 40 years old, previous surgery, and a follow un of less than 2 years.

Results

40 patients met our criteria. Mean age was of 48 years old (range 40 to 61yo). The mean follow-up was of 48 months (range 24 to 60 months). The average number of sutures needed to make de repair was of 3 (range 1 to 8 sutures). 5 patients failed (12.5%), 4 had an associated ACL reconstruction surgery and the latter was an isolated repair. Lysholm Score and IKDS showed great results in the post-operative period.

Conclusion

As more and more patients remain active into adulthood, the ability to preserve native meniscal tissue after injury is an important goal.
According to the available evidence published so far, and our very promising results shown in this study with a 12,5% failure rate, age as an independent factor should not be considered as a non-repairing factor.
Meniscal repair in patients over 40 years old present similar results and failure rate comparable to repairs in younger patients after two years of follow-up.