An anatomical study of meniscal allograft sizing.

Abstract

Meniscus-to-femoral condyle congruity is essential for the development of circumferential hoop stresses and thus function of the meniscus. When meniscal allograft transplantation is performed using bony anchorage of the insertional ligaments, accurate graft-to-host size matching is therefore essential. The standard method currently employed for size matching of meniscal allografts is to rely on plain radiographs of the host's knee, from which expected meniscal dimensions are measured. This study aimed to examine the correlation between tibial plateau dimensions and meniscal dimensions. We studied 44 donor tibial plateaus with medial and lateral meniscal allografts attached intact. Meniscal and tibial plateau dimensions were measured. Linear regression analysis was used to calculate expected meniscal dimensions from each specimen's plateau dimensions. Using specific medial and lateral tibial plateau width and length measurements, meniscal dimensions could be predicted with a mean error of only 5.0+/-6.4%. When predicting meniscal dimensions from only total bony plateau width, the mean error observed was 6.2+/-8.0%. The difference between the two methods was not statistically significant. The results suggest that meniscal dimensions can be predicted accurately from tibial plateau measurements, with only small mean errors. However, potential size mismatches should be carefully borne in mind by surgeons using meniscal allografts.