Narrative review of lateral meniscus repair: Techniques and outcomes

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this manuscript is to review current meniscal repair to highlight elements of the clinical evaluation, diagnostic tests, case examples of inside-out, outside-in and all-inside repair techniques and summarize post-operative outcomes of current reparative procedures with a focus on the lateral meniscus. Background: There has been a two to threefold increase in the number of meniscal repair procedures performed over the past few decades due to increased understanding of disease pathology and advancement of surgical techniques. Methods: A comprehensive literature review was performed using PubMed with selected studies published after 2014. Articles reviewed included search terms: Meniscus (MESH term), repair and technique (Text Words). Conclusions: There is a consensus regarding the indications for inside-out, outside-in and all-inside repair techniques. When considering lateral meniscus repair, the tear anatomy is of paramount importance. Although the type of tear may lend itself to a certain repair technique, the indications for technique are not mutually exclusive. Each technique is described and supplemented with a case example. Outcomes of meniscal repairs are improving and have demonstrated a moderate success rate throughout the literature. The inside-out technique remains the gold standard but there is a lack of high-level evidence to differentiate between techniques.