Higher healing rate after meniscal repair with concomitant ACL reconstruction for tears located in vascular zone 1 compared to zone 2: a systematic review and meta-analysis

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine and compare the percentage of completely healed meniscal tears after arthroscopic repair combined with anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) for the different vascular zones of the meniscus. METHODS: PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane library and Emcare were searched on 19 May 2020 for articles reporting healing rates after arthroscopic meniscal repair with concomitant ACLR for the different meniscal vascular zones as assessed by second-look arthroscopy. Data on meniscal tears were extracted as located in zones 1, 2 or 3, according to the Cooper classification. Studies were graded in quality using a modified Newcastle–Ottawa Scale. Pooled analyses were performed utilizing a random-effects model. Meta-analyses were performed using R version 3.6.2 and SPSS statistical software version 25.0. The study was registered with PROSPERO (ID:CRD42020176175). RESULTS: Ten observational cohort studies met the inclusion criteria, accounting for 758 meniscal tear repairs in total. The pooled overall proportion of healing was 78% (95% CI 72–84%). The mean weighted proportion of healing was 83% (95% CI 76–90%) for studies (n = 10) reporting zone 1 tears and 69% (95% CI 59–79%) for studies (n = 9) reporting zone 2 tears. No study reported healing rates for zone 3 tears. The pooled overall odds ratio was 2.5 (95% CI 1.00−6.02), indicating zone 1 tears as 2.5 times more likely to heal than zone 2 tears. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that meniscal tears localized in vascular zone 1 were more likely to heal than those in zone 2. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: IV. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00167-022-06862-2.