This Medical Video: Meniscus allograft survival in patients with moderate to severe
unicompartmental arthritis a 2- to 7-year follow-up.PURPOSE We
present meniscus allograft survival data at least 2 years from
surgery for 45 patients (47 allografts) with significant arthrosis
to determine if the meniscus can survive ...in an arthritic joint.
Type of Study Prospective, longitudinal survival study. METHODS
Data were collected for 31 men and 14 women, mean age 48 years
(range, 14 to 69 years), with preoperative evidence of significant
arthrosis and an Outerbridge classification greater than II. Failure
is established by previous studies as allograft removal. No patient
was lost to follow-up. RESULTS The success rate was 42 of 47
allografts (89.4%) with a mean failure time of 4.4 years as assessed
by Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. Statistical power is greater than
0.9, with alpha 0.05 and N 47. There was significant mean
improvement in preoperative versus postoperative self-reported
measures of pain, activity, and functioning, with P .001, P .004,
and P .001, respectively, as assessed by a Wilcoxon rank-sum test
with P .05. CONCLUSIONS Meniscus allografts can survive in a joint
with arthrosis, challenging the contraindications of age and
arthrosis severity. These results compare favorably with those in
previous reports of meniscus allograft survival in patients without
arthrosis. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Level IV.