Purpose
The purpose of this study is to assess orthopaedic patient knowledge and perceptions
about the meniscus, meniscal injury, and treatment to identify gaps in orthopaedic
patients' understanding and to assess the outcomes most important to these patients.
Methods
A 41-question survey was designed to measure knowledge and perception of meniscal
tears regarding anatomy, function, surgical indications, operative techniques, risks,
overall benefits of repair or removal, and recovery times. Study participants aged
between 18 and 60 years were recruited from an academic orthopaedic sports medicine
clinic regardless of their present complaint. Patients aged younger than 18 years
were excluded.
Results
We surveyed 253 individuals (132 men and 121 women), with a mean age of 38 years.
Most respondents (62%) rated their knowledge about the meniscus as little or no knowledge.
Participants answered between 49% and 50% of questions regardless of how they self-rated
their knowledge base. There was no correlation between perceived knowledge and percent
answered correctly or between level of knee injury/surgery exposure and percent answered
correctly. Only 28% of respondents knew that partial meniscectomy is the most common
type of surgical treatment for meniscal tears. The risk of osteoarthritis developing
and the risk of further surgery were the major concerns regarding meniscus surgery.
Those who had undergone a previous meniscus surgery performed better on factual questions
regarding meniscus structure (P = .0006), function (P = .0001), mechanism of injury (P = .0001), and the need for surgery (P = .0001) than those who had not undergone previous meniscus surgery.
Conclusions
Patients having undergone prior meniscus surgery have better knowledge of meniscus
injury and treatment than those who have not had previous meniscus injury. Meniscus
repair is believed to be the most common treatment rather than meniscectomy. The risk
of needing additional surgery and the risk of arthritis developing after meniscus
surgery are the main concerns among respondents.
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: July 08, 2015
Accepted:
May 7,
2015
Received:
October 1,
2014
Footnotes
The authors report the following potential conflict of interest or source of funding: R.H.B. receives support from ISTO Technology, Smith & Nephew, Ostesys, and Arthrex. M.J.M. receives support from Arthrex, Breg, ISTO Technology, and Schwartz Biomedical. R.W.W. receives support from National Institutes of Health and Wolters Kluwer Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. M.V.S. receives support from the following: This publication was supported by the Washington University Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences grant UL1 TR000448, sub-award TL1 TR000449, from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. ISTO Technologies.
Identification
Copyright
Published by Elsevier Inc.
