Epidemiologic, clinical and arthroscopic study of the discoid meniscus variant in Greek population

Abstract

This retrospective study was aimed to investigate the epidemiologic, clinical and arthroscopic features of discoid meniscus variant in Greek population. We reviewed the cases of 2,132 patients who underwent knee arthroscopy between 1986 and 2004 and diagnosis of discoid lateral meniscus was established in 39 patients with mean age of 31.7 +/- 9.4 years old. Incidence of the discoid lateral meniscus variant was recorded at rate of 1.8% presenting no significant differences according to patient gender or lesion body side. Regarding the type of discoid dysmorphy, 23 cases attributed to complete type, 15 were incomplete and in one case, Wrisberg type was observed. Predictive values of the most commonly recorded physical signs in the clinical diagnosis of the discoid meniscus were analysed. Comparative evaluation of the long-term results of arthroscopic partial meniscectomy performed in patients with intact or torn discoid lateral meniscus and torn normally shaped lateral meniscus was carried out using Lysholm and IKDC scoring systems. Also, we investigated any correlation between dysmorphy type and tear pattern analysing the arthroscopic findings. Results demonstrated that the discoid meniscus lesion represents an atypical clinical entity in adults and no significant predictive value of the signs encountered in the clinical examination of the patients with discoid meniscus was observed. Clinical outcome after arthroscopic partial meniscectomy regarding the intact discoid meniscus group was superior in comparison with that of torn discoid meniscus cases. On other hand, no difference in the result of partial meniscectomy between discoid and normal lateral meniscus tear groups was found. No statistically significant relationship between the type of discoid menisci and tear pattern or incidence rate of concomitant intraarticular lesions was confirmed.

Prognostic factors affecting the outcome of arthroscopic saucerization in discoid lateral meniscus: a retrospective analysis of 48 cases

“…Furthermore, they proposed that if the discoid meniscus is torn, this cartilage wear and degeneration will occur quickly and deteriorate the clinical results. Similarly, Papadopoulos et al [3] reported that intact DLM cases showed better clinical results compared to torn DLM in their series. Asik et al [14] compared the clinical outcomes according to the tear type and found reduced satisfactory outcomes in patients with complex meniscal tears.…”

“…drozkankose@hotmail.com however, the incidence of DLM is reported between 0.4 and 16.6 % in patients who underwent knee arthroscopy [3,4]. Clinical manifestations of lateral discoid meniscus are highly variable depending on the type of the discoid meniscus, the presence of an accompanying tear and the status of rim stability.…”

“…Previously, several authors investigated the outcomes of arthroscopic saucerization and reported promising results with few complications [3,4,6,[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. However, prognostic factors affecting the final outcomes are not well studied in relevant literature.…”

Discoid Lateral Meniscus Incidence During Knee Arthroscopy

“…also found knee pain to be the dominant symptom in 90% of cases. (6,36,37,39) Changes in the morphology and vascularization of DLM render the condition more prone to mechanical stress; therefore, arthroscopic findings of combined meniscus lesions are relatively common. (33) We detected DLM combined with lesions of the meniscus itself in 11 (85.72%) cases, and the incidence was statistically higher in patients over the age of 18 (90%).…”

“…(3) Thus far, research has indicated the existence of clear racial differences in the incidence of this morphological anomaly, with the Asian population exhibiting the highest incidence (from 9.1% to 16.6%), while the European population demonstrates a somewhat lower incidence of DLM (from 0.4% to 5%). (4,5,6) In 1979, Watanabe et al established a classification system in which DLM was divided into three groups: complete (a), incomplete (b) and Wrisberg type (c), and, in 1998, Monllau et al suggested adding "ring-shaped" lateral meniscus (d) as the fourth group in this classification. (7,8) The most common lesions are complete and incomplete, which are usually asymptomatic and represent incidental findings unless combined with meniscus lesions.…”