Controversial Treatment Choice to Manage Lateral Meniscus Posterior Root Tear: A Case Report

INTRODUCTION: Meniscus root tears are defined as radial tears within 1 cm of the meniscus insertion, or avulsions at the insertion of the meniscus. Based on tear morphology, there are 2 classification system for both medial and lateral posterior root tears. Lateral meniscus posterior root tear (LMPRT) is usually traumatic in nature and has been reported to occur in 7-10% of patients with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. The most commonly utilized treatments for LMPRT include non-operative treatment, partial meniscectomy, or repair. However, studies evaluating the clinical success of partial meniscectomy for LMPRT are contradictory. CASE REPORT: A 18 years old man came to the orthopaedic clinic with complaints of pain in the right knee, after 2 months excessive physical training to join the police academy. Physical examination of the right knee showed positive results on McMurray and Thesaly’s test. According the combination of the cleft, truncated triangle, and ghost signs on the patient’s MRI examination which showed there was a lateral meniscus posterior root tear of the right knee without ACL injury. Meniscus repair was performed for this patient at the beginning, but apparently the meniscus can not be repositioned. Therefore, we decided that Arthroscopy Partial Meniscectomy (APM) was the best option for this patient. CONCLUSION: Even though APM long term outcomes is still controversial, when repair is not possible, APM is preferred to get short term benefits after the surgery, such as shorter recovery time and less revision surgery rates.