Knee osteoarthritis development five years following arthroscopic partial meniscectomy or exercise therapy for degenerative meniscal tears: the odense-oslo meniscectomy versus exercise trial

Abstract

Purpose: Degenerative meniscal tears per se and partial meniscectomy are strong risk factors for knee osteoarthritis (OA) development. Several randomized controlled trials have found that partial meniscectomy provides no clinically relevant benefit compared to exercise therapy for degenerative meniscal tears. However, long-term follow-up studies of randomized controlled trials are lacking. Hence, the aim of this five-year follow-up of the Odense-Oslo Meniscectomy versus Exercise (OMEX) trial was to compare progression of individual radiographic features of the knee, incident radiographic knee OA and changes in patient-reported outcome measures following partial meniscectomy or exercise therapy for degenerative meniscal tears.