Purpose: To conduct a systematic review evaluating subjective patient reported outcomes (PROs), reoperations, and graft failure after concomitant osteochondral allograft (OCA) transplantation and meniscal allograft transplantation (MAT).
Methods: A literature search was performed by querying MEDLINE, Embase, and PubMed according to the 2020 PRISMA statement. Inclusion criteria were limited to peer-reviewed English level I-IV studies with at least 10 patients reporting clinical outcomes and complications following OCA transplantation with concomitant MAT for osteochondral defects and meniscal deficiency with a minimum of 2-years follow up. For a majority of the included studies, failure was defined as conversion to arthroplasty, revision OCA, or graft failure on postoperative imaging.
Results: Six studies with a total of 188 patients met inclusion/exclusion criteria. The mean patient age was 32.4 years (Range 15 to 66 years). Improvement in the following outcome scores was observed across all included studies from pre- to postoperative status: Lysholm Knee Score (+21 to +26.69), International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) Subjective Knee Form (+19 to +26.55), Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) Pain Score (+17.91 to +26), KOOS Symptom Score (+9 to +18.16), KOOS Activities of Daily Living (ADL) Score (+11.91 to +23.4), KOOS Sport Score (+19 to +26.04), KOOS Quality of Life Score (+22 to +35.01), 12-Item Short Form Survey (SF-12) Physical Score (+5 to +12.26), and SF-12 Mental Score (+1.8 to +4) (P < 0.05 for all). Reoperation rate was found to be between 6.7% and 54%. Failure rate was found to be between 13% and 22.9%. Although patient satisfaction data was only available in 2 studies, 82% - 90% of patients would choose to undergo OCA transplantation with MAT again.
Conclusion: OCA transplantation with concomitant MAT for the treatment of focal chondral defects in the presence of meniscus deficiency results in improved patient-reported outcome measures with high patient satisfaction rates. Reoperation rates and failure rates at a mean follow up time of 4.7 years (Range 1.7 to 17.1 years) are 37.3% and 17.1%, respectively, which are expected and consistent with the existing literature in isolated procedures.
Level of evidence: Level IV; Systematic Review of Level III-IV Studies.