Treatment of Horizontal Cleavage Tears – Resection to Repair

Abstract

Horizontal cleavage tears have recently received more attention. Historically they were treated with benign neglect or resection. Recent biomechanical studies show that resecting one of the leaflets may be as detrimental a partial meniscectomy in tears with a more vertical orientation. New instrumentation has facilitated repair with an all-inside vertical compression stitch. Cadaver studies show repairing horizontal cleavage tears in such a manner can restore the biomechanics of the joint close to the intact state. The approach to treating horizontal cleavage tears has changed and is the focus of this article.