Meniscal Derangement in the Osteoarthritic Knee Joint

Degenerative arthritis was found in 18 knees examined in 70 cases of internal derangement of the knee joint seen during the past 3 years. Eleven of these patients, who did not respond to conservative treatment, underwent arthrotomy with medial meniscectomy, and in each of these cases attritional degeneration of the medial meniscus, secondary to degenerative arthritis, was found to have led to rupture of the meniscus. Full flexion or extension of the involved knee, due to displacement of the torn meniscus, was impossible in each case. Excision of the torn cartilage permitted return of function to these arthritic knee joints.