Clinical Results of Contralateral Arthroscopic Meniscectomy Performed with Unilateral Total Knee Arthroplasty: Minimum 3-year Follow-up

PURPOSE: We assessed the clinical outcome of contralateral arthroscopic meniscectomy performed with unilateral total knee arthroplasty (TKA). MATERIALS AND METHODS: From May 1999 to June 2006, 23 patients underwent unilateral total knee arthroplasty and contralateral arthroscopic meniscectomy at the same time. All patients were women and followed for at least 36 months, except 2 patients who died. For clinical assessment, range of motion of the knee joint, Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) knee score and the Lysholm knee score were evaluated preoperatively and at the last follow-up. At arthroscopy, meniscal pathology and cartilage changes were recorded and classified according to the Outerbridge scale. Progression of osteoarthritis in the contralateral knee to subsequent TKA was also assessed. RESULTS: The mean age of the 21 patients was 67.1 years and the mean follow-up period was 5.7 years. All of the patients were diagnosed with osteoarthritis and had Outerbridge grade 3 or 4 cartilage changes. Eight of the 21 patients had subsequent TKA at an average of 3.1 years after the index operation. The other 13 patients had no further surgery and clinical results including the HSS knee score and the Lysholm score were improved from 74.5 and 60.6 preoperatively to 90.8 and 82.4 postoperatively, respectively (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Contralateral arthroscopic meniscectomy performed simultaneously with unilateral TKA produces relatively good results regardless of the presence of cartilage degeneration.