To Study the Arthroscopic Management of Meniscal Injury of Knee Joint and its Functional Outcome at a Rural Care Centre

Background: Meniscal tears are the most common injury of the knee, with an incidence of meniscal injury resulting in meniscectomy of 66 per 100,000 populations per year. Menisci are essential for the normal function of the knee joint. In the modern diagnosis of meniscal injury and planning of the appropriate intervention, a good patient history and clinical examination have been supplemented with precise non-invasive imaging. Conservative approach has moved, with the correct indication, towards surgical treatment. Interestingly, the very first treatment for meniscal lesions was repair and not resection, suggesting that keeping the meniscus in place was the right approach all along. Aim and Objective: To study the Arthroscopic Management of Meniscal Injury of Knee Joint and its Functional Outcome Material and Methods: A prospective study was carried out among patients with meniscal injuries of knee joint and getting admitted under orthopaedic department at rural care center. All patients having meniscal injuries having age between 20 to 60 years, getting confirmed of meniscal injury on MRI and willing to participate were considered for the study. Thus such 50 cases were studied and evaluated. Patients with infection in and around the knee joint were excluded from the study. Data analysis was done using Software Open Epi version 2.3.1. Results: Mean age in years was 42.8+4.6. Majority 60% were females. Common mode of injury was road traffic accident (75%). Medial meniscus was commonly involved (80%). 48% cases showed good functional outcome, 32% showed excellent and 10% showed fair outcome. Complications were seen among 13% cases. Conclusion: The need to accurately evaluate the knee injuries is very crucial for the proper management and outcome; otherwise it will lead to chronic debility to the patient. Arthroscopy can accurately detect, localize and characterize various internal derangements of the knee joint and help in arriving at a correct anatomical diagnosis ...