Primary Repair of Medial Meniscal Avulsions

Loss of the bony attachment of the posterior horn of the medial meniscus can lead to extrusion of the meniscus. With extrusion, the medial meniscus loses its ability to absorb hoop stress, resulting in a biomechanical equivalent somewhere between the intact knee and a complete meniscectomy. The potentially detrimental effects of meniscectomy have been well desribed. Reports of meniscal allograft reconstruction emphasize the importance of restoration of the anterior and posterior meniscal bone attachments. The authors have developed a surgical technique for primary repair of medial meniscal posterior horn root avulsions and report 2 cases.