We retrospectively reviewed the results for fifteen patients, eight
girls and seven boys, who had had a total of eighteen meniscectomies
performed for a discoid meniscus at The Hospital for Special Surgery
between January 1, 1955, and December 31, 1983. The average age was ten and
a half years (range, six to sixteen years) at the time of the operation and
twenty-eight years (range, twenty to thirty-six years) at the time of
follow-up. The average duration of follow-up was seventeen years (range,
eight to twenty-eight years). The primary indication for the meniscectomy
was continuing pain in fourteen knees and locking or snapping in three. One
patient had tenderness and walked with a limp. A meniscal tear was found in
twelve knees at the time of the operation. According to the scale of
Ikeuchi, the result was excellent for ten knees, good for three, and fair
for five. Of the five patients (five knees) who had a fair result, four had
mild intermittent discomfort after strenuous physical activity as well as
clicking (three knees) or swelling (one knee), and one had clicking. One of
these five patients was subsequently found to have rheumatoid arthritis,
and two subsequently had a patellar realignment. No degenerative changes
were evident on the roentgenograms of the eight patients (nine knees) for
whom they were made at the latest follow-up evaluation.