Outcomes Arthroscopic Partial Menisectomy Compared with Arthroscopic Meniscal Repair on Meniscal Tears : A Systematic Review

INTRODUCTION: Meniscal tears is one of the most common injury in knee. The surgical management of meniscal tears has seen an increasing trend towards meniscal repair from partial meniscectomy. The purpose of this study is to evaluate and review the comparison of the results between arthroscopic partial menisectomy with meniscal repair on meniscal tears by evaluating clinical outcomes and radiological outcomes. METHOD: Systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted using PRISMA guidelines. Literature was searched through PubMed, Google Scholar, Science Direct and Cochrane Library using Boolean operators. The outcomes assessed by Lysholm, Tegner IKDC, KOOS score and osteoarthritis radiological outcomes. RESULTS: Six studies included in the systematic review. Five are retrospective cohort studies and one is prospective cohort study. Total sample size were around 527 patients, with 308 patients undergoing APM procedure and the rest 219 patients had meniscal repair. DISCUSSION: Most studies showed meniscal repair had better outcomes compared to APM with significant difference in almost all outcomes measurement. Only one study reported APM better than meniscal tear in KOOS score. CONCLUSION: There are significant difference between APM and meniscal repair in the patients reported outcome and also in the OA radiologic outcomes. There is only one study that showed APM have better clinical outcomes compared with meniscal repair. The choice of which procedure to perform relies on the surgeon’s preference and the patient condition.