Knee Surgery

No significant benefit found between arthroscopic partial meniscectomy, placebo surgery

Sihvonen R, et al. Ann Rheum Dis. 2017;doi:10.1136/annrheumdis-2017-211172. June 7, 2017 Recently published results showed patients with a degenerative meniscal tear who underwent arthroscopic partial meniscectomy had no significant benefit over placebo surgery. “As the evidence started to mount that arthroscopic partial meniscectomy (APM), the most common orthopedic procedure, offers little more than just placebo […]

Knee Arthroscopy Comparable With Conservative Management in Patients With Degenerative Knee Disease – Full Text

May 30, 2017 BMJ Open TAKE-HOME MESSAGE The authors of this systematic review compared outcomes following arthroscopic surgery and conservative management in patients with degenerative knee disease. When compared with conservative management, knee arthroscopy resulted in a very small reduction in pain and improvement in function for up to 3 months, but this was not […]

Sham Knee Surgery as Good as the Real Thing

No difference in outcomes for patients with degenerative meniscal tears and no OA by Judy George, Contributing Writer, MedPage TodayMay 28, 2017 After 2 years of follow-up, arthroscopic partial meniscectomy (APM) was no better than sham surgery for patients with degenerative medial meniscal tears and no evidence of knee osteoarthritis, reported Finnish researchers in Annals of the Rheumatic […]

Arthroscopic surgery for degenerative knee arthritis and meniscal tears: a clinical practice guideline

BMJ 2017; 357 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.j1982 (Published 10 May 2017) Cite this as: BMJ 2017;357:j1982 What you need to know We make a strong recommendation against the use of arthroscopy in nearly all patients with degenerative knee disease, based on linked systematic reviews; further research is unlikely to alter this recommendation This recommendation applies to patients […]

Knee Surgery Does Not Improve Life Quality for Many Patients

Medscape.com Pam Harrison March 29, 2017 Total knee replacement provides minimal quality-of-life benefit for patients with less severe disability at baseline, according to new research. Thus, the treatment, as currently practiced in the United States, is not cost-effective. “Improvements in quality of life with total knee replacement were on average smaller than previously shown,” Bart […]

Knee Patients Spending Millions on Wasted Treatments, Study Finds

NBC NEWS MAR 14 2017, 4:38 PM ET by MAGGIE FOX Wasted treatments for knee pain have racked up millions of dollars in medical bills, researchers reported Tuesday. Patients who had knee replacements went through treatments such as injections that did not help, that are not recommended, and that accounted for a third of their […]

Study cites risk factors for conversion to TKA following knee arthroscopy

Boyd JA, et al. Orthopedics. 2016;doi:10.3928/01477447-20160719-01. March 7, 2017 Results from this study demonstrated women, patients 70 years and older, obese patients, those with diabetes, depression disorders and rheumatoid arthritis had a higher chance of conversion to total knee arthroplasty 2 years following a knee arthroscopy. Researchers identified 68,090 patients older than 50 years who […]

The Side Effects of Orthopedic Knee Surgery: Doubling Down at the Great Orthopedic Surgery Casino

What are the side effects of orthopedic surgery? One of the more disturbing things we see in interventional orthopedics is patients who have undergone multiple aggressive types of orthopedic surgery. The behavior is a bit like a gambler at a casino. If you don’t hit it big the first time, keep doubling down until you […]

Short-Term Clinical Effects of Dry Needling Combined With Physical Therapy in Patients With Chronic Postsurgical Pain Following Total Knee Arthroplasty: Case Series

Authors: Rodrigo Núñez-Cortés, PT Published: Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy, 2017 Volume:0 Issue:0 Pages:1–24 DOI: 10.2519/jospt.2017.7089 Study Design Case series. Background The purpose of this case series is to describe a combined program of dry needling (DN) and therapeutic exercise in a small group of patients with persistent pain post total knee arthroplasty. […]

Increased risk for knee replacement surgery after arthroscopic surgery for degenerative meniscal tears: a multi-center longitudinal observational study using data from the osteoarthritis initiative.

Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2017 Jan;25(1):23-29. doi: 10.1016/j.joca.2016.09.013. Epub 2016 Oct 3. Rongen JJ, Rovers MM, van Tienen TG, Buma P, Hannink G. Abstract OBJECTIVE: The primary objective was to assess whether patients with knee osteoarthritis and whom undergo arthroscopic meniscectomy have an increased risk for future knee replacement surgery. DESIGN: Data used were obtained from the […]

Total Knee Arthroplasty After Knee Arthroscopy in Patients Older Than 50 Years

Jason A. Boyd, MD; Ian M. Gradisar, MD   Orthopedics November/December 2016 – Volume 39 · Issue 6: e1041-e1044 Posted November 29, 2016 DOI: 10.3928/01477447-20160719-01 Abstract Several orthopedic registries have described the incidence of total knee arthroplasty (TKA) in patients who have undergone knee arthroscopy. Patient risk factors may play a role in the conversion […]

Structural pathology is not related to patient-reported pain and function in patients undergoing meniscal surgery – Full Text Article

What are the findings? Meniscal pathology features such as tear type, tear size and tear location identified at arthroscopy were not associated with preoperative self-reported knee pain and function in patients undergoing arthroscopic meniscal surgery. Other structural knee joint pathologies found at surgery, such as cartilage damage, were not associated with preoperative self-reported knee pain […]

Electrotherapy and acupuncture linked with decreased, delayed opioid use after TKA

Tedesco D, et al. JAMA Surg. 2017;doi:10.1001/jamasurg.2017.2872. August 16, 2017 Investigators found electrotherapy and acupuncture after total knee arthroplasty correlated with a decrease in and later use of opioids. Researchers performed a systematic review and found 5,509 studies of nonpharmacological interventions for postoperative pain following total knee arthroplasty. Of these studies, 39 randomized controlled trials […]

Pediatric patients had worse functional outcomes following revision ACL reconstruction

More systematic ways to evaluate revision surgery are warranted to treat adolescents with revision ACL reconstruction. Orthopedics Today, August 2016 Pediatric patients who underwent revision ACL reconstruction experienced suboptimal outcomes, according to recently presented data. “We found revision [ACL] surgery in children and adolescents was associated with suboptimal patient outcomes, high graft retear rates, high […]

Morbid Obesity and Total Joint Replacement: Is It Okay to Say No?

Clint Wooten, MD; Brian Curtin, MD Orthopedics July/August 2016 – Volume 39 · Issue 4: 207-209 Posted July 25, 2016 Our waiting room provides evidence each day that obesity continues to be a major problem, if not an epidemic, within the United States. It is particularly challenging in the world of arthroplasty. As reported by […]

Many patients who already take opioids continue their use after joint replacement

June 22, 2016 According to results recently published in Pain, many patients who took opioids prior to total knee or total hip arthroplasty persisted to use opioids 6 months postoperatively and a smaller percentage of patients who were opioid-naïve preoperatively also remained on opioids at the follow-up. “After a successful surgery as pain in the […]

Diagnostic Algorithm for Residual Pain After Total Knee Arthroplasty

Caroline N. Park, BA Orthopedics March/April 2016 – Volume 39 · Issue 2: e246-e252 Posted March 31, 2016 Abstract Although total knee arthroplasty is a successful and cost-effective procedure, patient dissatisfaction remains as high as 50%. Postoperative residual knee pain after total knee arthroplasty, with or without crepitation, is a major factor that contributes to […]

Should I Have Meniscus Surgery?

Should I Have Meniscus Surgery? No… The most common orthopedic surgery in America had it’s final epitaph written this month with a level-1 study showing that surgery for meniscus locking is no better than placebo. Given that this was the final indication for the surgery, based on the research, to use a party analogy, the […]

Meniscal Tears in OA: Arthroscopy No Help

03.06.2016 Patients with arthroscopy were 30% more likely to have joint replacement by Nancy Walsh Senior Staff Writer, MedPage Today ORLANDO — Among patients who have meniscal damage complicated by knee osteoarthritis (OA), arthroscopy did not decrease or delay the likelihood of eventually having knee replacement, a researcher reported here. In a large cohort of […]

Resection of a torn meniscus has no added benefit over sham surgery to relieve knee catching or occasional locking

Mechanical Symptoms and Arthroscopic Partial Meniscectomy in Patients With Degenerative Meniscus Tear: A Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Trial Raine Sihvonen, MD, PhD Background: Recent evidence shows that arthroscopic partial meniscectomy (APM) offers no benefit over conservative treatment of patients with a degenerative meniscus tear. However, patients who report mechanical symptoms (sensations of knee catching […]