[Lateral meniscus transplantation with allograft, a good alternative for the management of postmeniscectomy syndrome in young patients. Presentation of a case].

Abstract

Meniscal injuries represent one of the main causes of intra-articular knee pain, especially in young patients, athletes or those with a high demand for physical activity; representing a challenge for the arthroscopist surgeon due to the great complexity that some of these injuries can present. Currently, the advances that have been implemented in arthroscopy allow us to repair meniscal injuries that in the past were considered irreparable. Although our priority is to preserve as much of the meniscus as possible, there are cases in which the injury reaches such complexity that this is impossible, with partial or total meniscectomy being the only therapeutic option. In the United States, approximately 690,000 partial meniscectomies are performed each year. This situation makes us consider meniscal transplantation as a great therapeutic option for patients considered young enough for joint replacement. The ideal patient is a relatively young patient (between skeletal maturity and 50 years), who has a well-documented history of partial or total meniscectomy, pain well localized to the affected compartment, with failure to conservative treatment and without high-grade chondral defects. in a generalized way. We present the case of a 35-year-old male patient with a history of total meniscectomy of the right lateral meniscus seven years ago, who currently presents with a postmeniscectomy syndrome of the lateral compartment. Due to the clinical and demographic characteristics of our patient, as well as the findings in the imaging studies, meniscal transplantation with allograft represents an excellent alternative to alleviate the symptoms and slow down as much as possible the need for joint replacement as a definitive treatment.