Comparison between conservative and prophylactically concurrent meniscoplasty on the asymptomatic knee in children with bilateral DLM

This retrospective study aimed to compare the effectiveness between concurrent meniscoplasty and conservative management on the asymptomatic side in children with unilaterally symptomatic bilateral discoid lateral meniscus operated on the symptomatic side in a tertiary level of clinical care. Patients aged under 14 with unilaterally symptomatic bilateral discoid lateral meniscus underwent arthroscopic meniscoplasty were eligible. Patients were either underwent meniscoplasty on the symptomatic side, with the asymptomatic side conservatively treated (group 1) or underwent meniscoplasty on both sides concurrently (group 2). Functional outcomes were evaluated using the Lysholm score and Ikeuchi score. Relative cost collected through the hospital data was applied by the Kruskal-Wallis test. The occurrence of symptoms was applied by the Kaplan–Meier model. A total of 50 patients (39 female and 11 male) were eligible. For the average Lysholm scores, groups 1 and 2 of the previously asymptomatic side were 90.86 ± 8.25 and 92.62 ± 8.68. For the symptomatic side, the Lysholm scores were 91.38 ± 8.90 and 95.71 ± 7.45. For the average cost of treatment, a significant difference was discovered between group 1 and 2 (P < .0001). The Kaplan–Meier survival analysis of the occurrence of symptoms showed no statistical difference between the 2 groups (P = .162), and the terminal survival rates in the 2 groups were 86.2% and 81.0%, respectively. Conservative treatment reached the same clinical outcomes as the concurrent meniscectomy, with a potential of longer mean survival time and lower demand of cost in treatment.