Meniscal Repair: Intra- and Postoperative Complications

Abstract

Arthroscopic meniscal procedures have a relatively low complication rate. In a large retrospective study sponsored by the Arthroscopy Association of North America (AANA) in 1985, De Lee [15] reported an overall complication rate of 0.6%. In this survey, focusing on diagnostic arthroscopy and first-generation arthroscopic surgical procedures, some serious neurological and vascular complications were identified. This rate was believed to be underestimated, and specific complications of meniscal repair procedures were not considered. Variability in the reported overall complication rate of arthroscopic meniscal surgery depends on the criteria used to define a surgical complication. In a prospective study conducted together with the French Arthroscopy Society (SFA), reporting an overall complication rate of 16%, Coudane and Buisson [14] defined a complication as every phenomenon considered abnormal by the patient or the surgeon during and after an arthroscopic procedure. In a prospective survey of 8,741 knee joint procedures, the AANA evaluated complications in arthroscopic surgery [46]: the overall complication rate was 1.8%, and the incidence of complications was not higher for meniscal repair (1.2%) than for partial meniscectomy (1.7%). An analysis of large surveys of meniscal repair procedures performed by the AANA [45–47] and SFA [28] showed that serious injury involving neurovascular structures was rarely encountered in the most recent studies (Table 6.2.1).