No abstract

Background. Current evidence based research data lead to reassessment of traditional approaches for treatment of patients with bone and joint disorders especially knee osteoarthritis (OA). The purpose of the study was to review randomized clinical trials (RCT) and meta-analyses of RCT as well as recent guidelines of professional societies for application of arthroscopic lavage, debridement and meniscectomy in knee OA. Materials and Methods. Databases PubMed, e-LIBRARY, EMBASE (Ovid), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) were searched for the period from 2000 till 2019. From 138 heats irrelevant and poor quality studies were excluded. In total there were 1614 patients aged 48,9–62,8 in RCT and 20 770 patients aged 42–62,4 in meta-analyses of RCT. Results. Both arthroscopic lavage and debridement do not lead to significant pain relief as well as functional improvement in long term therefore are not recommended. Nonsurgical treatment should be the first line strategy in patients with early and moderate knee OA even with degenerative meniscal tears irrespective of mechanical symptoms like painful locking, catching or sudden giving way. Arthroscopy might be performed only if complex non-surgical treatment including non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, structured exercises program and intra-articular injections failed after 3 months in patients without ‘bone on bone’ cartilage erosions and frontal malalignment or if the knee is mechanically locked due to bucked handle type meniscus tear or loose body. Conclusion. Evidence based medicine approach let us to conclude that arthroscopy in knee OA is non-efficient and rarely indicated therefore if proper non-surgical treatment is failed around the knee osteotomies and partial or total arthroplasty should be considered.

For many decades arthroscopy considered to be the least invasive procedure among all surgical interventions for treatment of knee osteoarthritis (OA). In the beginning of XXI century several randomized clinical studies (RCS) demonstrated inefficiency of lavage and debridement for knee OA. The evidence regarding partial meniscectomy for these category of patients remained uncertain. Therefore the published clinical guidelines are either controversial or inconclusive. The aim of this study was to critically review the current RCS and meta-analyses of RCS as well as actual clinical guidelines of international orthopedic societies and compare them to expert opinions. We searched PubMed and E-library databases for high evidence research published from 2015 to 2022 and analyzed the current clinical guidelines dedicated to partial meniscectomy for knee OA. 60 specialized in this field orthopedic surgeons interviewed anonymously to clarify the decision making process in real clinical practice The evidence is that more than 2/3 of knee OA patients with degenerative meniscal tear benefit from non-surgical treatment therefore indication for arthroscopic partial meniscectomy is limited. The majority of current clinical guidelines consider surgery as an second option if conservative treatment failed and only for non-advanced knee OA. On the contrary experts interview demonstrated the lack of standardized approach as well as a lot of controversies in clinical decision making. The future research dedicated to partial meniscectomy in knee OA should be appropriately designed to clearly differentiate the sub-population of patient who may benefit from arthroscopy in the long-term without carrying the risk of rapid disease progression with premature conversion to arthroplasty.