Meniscal resection may not benefit patients with traumatic meniscal tears.

Commentary on: Thorlund JB, Englund M, Christensen R, et al . Patient reported outcomes in patients undergoing arthroscopic partial meniscectomy for traumatic or degenerative meniscal tears: comparative prospective cohort study. BMJ 2017;356:j356. Arthroscopic partial meniscectomy (APM), a keyhole surgery where loose and fragmented pieces of a torn meniscus is removed, is one of the most common orthopaedic procedures performed. Over half of these are performed to treat a meniscus tear in a degenerative knee.1 However, several recent randomised trials have shown that APM is not superior to conservative treatment or placebo treating meniscus tears associated with a degenerative knee.2 Another ‘type’ of meniscus tear is a traumatic tear, the result of a traumatic knee injury of younger patient with otherwise healthy knee (with no degeneration). It has been a virtual unanimity among orthopaedic surgeons that patients …