Meniscal allograft transplantation in patients with substantial cartilage disease led to a sustained long-term improvement in patient-reported outcome measures

Purpose: Due to a lack of consensus regarding effective treatment options in young patients, the indications of meniscal allograft transplantation (MAT) have widened to include those with substantial cartilage disease. The aim of this study was to report the long-term patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) and allograft survival rates for patients with substantial cartilage disease.

Methods: A review of the prospectively maintained database was performed. Patients with International Cartilage Repair Society 3b or above cartilage grading in either their femur or tibia were classified as having substantial cartilage disease. Postoperative International Knee Documentation Committee, Tegner, Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score and Lysholm were compared between those with and without substantial cartilage disease. Kaplan-Meir analysis was used to assess the survival rates. Survival was defined as revision or removal of allograft or conversion to arthroplasty.

Results: Data from 422 patients were included in the analysis with 129 patients found to have full-thickness chondral lesions and 281 patients without full-thickness chondral lesions. The mean follow-up was 6.33 (SD 3.48) years for the cohort. The mean age for the entire cohort was 30 (SD 9.23). Patients in substantial cartilage disease group underwent meniscal transplantation at an older age (32 [standard deviation {SD} 8.47] years vs. 29 [SD 9.35] years [p < 0.001]). There was no significant difference in PROMs between the two groups up to 10 years postoperatively (p > 0.05). The substantial cartilage disease group had significantly lower survival rates compared to those without (80.62% vs. 94.32%).

Conclusions: MAT in the context of substantial cartilage disease was associated with an improvement in PROMs up to 10 years with no difference to the group without substantial cartilage disease. The PROMs in combination with the long-term survival rates in this study can be used to counsel patients preoperatively.

Level of evidence: Level IV.