What happens to the knee joint when the meniscus is removed?
We try to repair any torn meniscus cartilage we find. The good news is that most meniscus tears associated with fresh torn ACLs are repairable (longitudinal tears) if surgery is done in the first few weeks after the injury. Also, when the meniscus repair is done in conjunction with an ACL reconstruction, successful meniscus healing occurs over 90% of the time. On occasion the torn portion of the meniscus must be removed. When that happens we try to leave as much of the meniscus as possible removing only the torn part. With this approach, thelong term problems of removing a meniscus can be reduced but osteoarthritisis still possible.
