Abstract
Forty-five patients who underwent a partial meniscec tomy in an anterior cruciate deficient knee were fol lowed from 2 to 9 years. The average age at the time of the meniscectomy was 28.6 years. The majority of the patients were injured in recreational athletics. The subjects were evaluated preoperatively by a question naire and clinical examination, both of which were re peated at followup. The efficacy of the postsurgical rehabilitation was monitored with measurement of quadriceps and hamstring strength on the Cybex Dy namometer. All of the patients had a KT-1000 knee ligament arthrometer test at followup that was com pared with the clinical examination. Sixty-five percent of the subjects (13 of 20) with a Lachman and pivot shift of +1 returned to their previous activity level without limitation. Of the patients with a KT-1000 com pliance index of 1 mm, 70% (11 of 17) returned to the same athletic level. However, only 20% (2 of 11) of the patients with a clinical instability greater than +1 or a compliance index of 2 mm were able to perform without limitation. The location of the meniscal tear did not correlate with the functional outcome. Six patients re quired ACL reconstruction.
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