Ambulatory arthroscopic knee surgery results of partial meniscectomy.

In an open prospective study the results of arthroscopic partial meniscectomy were reviewed in 188 knees. Group I comprised of 139 (65%) knees with pure meniscus lesions without any ligament laxity, the remaining 49 (35%) knees in group II had anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) deficiency in addition to meniscus lesions. In group I, 93% had excellent to good and 7% had fair results by criteria of Tapper and Hoover. In group II, 75% had excellent to good and 25% had fair results. Arthroscopic knee surgery was a good method of identifying patients in group II who required anterior cruciate reconstruction. One hundred (53%) sedentary workers were able to return to work at a mean time of 3 weeks. Patients classified as heavy labour comprised of a group of 40 (21%) were able to return to their occupation in the mean time of 5 weeks. School and college students numbered 28 (14%) were able to go to their institutions in the mean time of 10 days. Twenty (9%) patients were professional or semi-professional athletes who were permitted sports training in 3 weeks and sports participation in 6 weeks on the average. There were no serious complications including wound infection, deep venous thrombosis (DVT) or loss of knee motion. The arthroscopic technique is reliable, cost effective and has high patient acceptance because of low morbidity and rapid return of good function to the knee joint.