With the use of a five-degrees-of-freedom testing apparatus, we studied
changes in the motion of the knees of cadavera after isolated resection of
the lateral meniscus, with section of the anterior cruciate ligament and
resection of the medial meniscus. Primary anterior and posterior
translations were not affected by lateral meniscectomy. When lateral
meniscectomy was done in addition to resection of the anterior cruciate
ligament, anterior translation did not increase compared with that measured
after isolated section of the anterior cruciate ligament. However, when the
means of the paired differences in anterior translation were compared, a
significant increase was found. This differed from the results after
excision of the medial meniscus and section of the anterior cruciate
ligament; in that situation, medial meniscectomy resulted in significantly
more anterior translation.