{"id":278,"date":"2023-04-13T17:38:37","date_gmt":"2023-04-13T17:38:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/testing.southerncrescentsolutions.net\/wvortho\/?p=278"},"modified":"2023-04-19T17:15:50","modified_gmt":"2023-04-19T17:15:50","slug":"cant-you-replace-my-meniscus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/testing.southerncrescentsolutions.net\/wvortho\/2023\/04\/13\/cant-you-replace-my-meniscus\/","title":{"rendered":"Can’t you replace my meniscus?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"One the most common knee injuries requiring surgery is injury to the meniscus.\u00a0 Meniscal tears often do not heal on their own and cause symptoms severe enough for surgery to be necessary.<\/p>\n

At the time of surgery the meniscus is often torn in such a way that actual repair of the torn fragments is not possible.\u00a0 This is because the blood supply in the meniscus does not allow the tissue to heal in many cases even if one would try to repair it.\u00a0 In such a situation the principle of surgery is to remove the least possible amount of torn and unstable meniscus.<\/p>\n

If the meniscus happens to tear near the periphery where there is a good blood supply then, of course, meniscal repair is the procedure of choice.\u00a0 In such an instance research shows at least an 80% chance of the meniscus healing.\u00a0 Research has also shown that loss of meniscal tissue can result in degenerative arthritis in some patients although this does not happen to all patients who lose part of the meniscus.\u00a0 At the present time as a profession we do not know how to predict exactly which meniscal tears will progress to arthritic change.<\/p>\n

Patients frequently ask if we have a way of replacing the meniscus when it is torn?\u00a0 Much research has been done to try and come up with the dependable long-term solution to this problem.\u00a0 Use of cadaver (tissue donor) meniscus for meniscal transplant surgery is the most widespread solution offered.\u00a0 This is been successful short term for many individuals but the meniscus unfortunately does not really seem to be normal and durable over the long-term.<\/p>\n

Follow-up studies show that the transplanted meniscus does not truly \"come alive\u201d and the body does not completely grow into it.\u00a0 An ideal long-term solution would be a material which could be surgically implanted and into which the body\u2019s own healthy cells could grow.\u00a0 Unfortunately although research efforts are underway, no such implants are currently available for commercial use.\u00a0 So from a practical point of view arthroscopic meniscal transplantation surgery is presently recommended to my patients only in the absence of nearly the entire meniscus and persistent activity limiting pain.\u00a0 When it is truly necessary it can make a big difference in the patient's life.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One the most common knee injuries requiring surgery is injury to the meniscus.\u00a0 Meniscal tears often do not heal on their own and cause symptoms severe enough for surgery to be necessary. At the time of surgery the meniscus is often torn in such a way that actual repair of the torn fragments is not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/testing.southerncrescentsolutions.net\/wvortho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/testing.southerncrescentsolutions.net\/wvortho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/testing.southerncrescentsolutions.net\/wvortho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/testing.southerncrescentsolutions.net\/wvortho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/testing.southerncrescentsolutions.net\/wvortho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/testing.southerncrescentsolutions.net\/wvortho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":280,"href":"http:\/\/testing.southerncrescentsolutions.net\/wvortho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278\/revisions\/280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/testing.southerncrescentsolutions.net\/wvortho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/testing.southerncrescentsolutions.net\/wvortho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/testing.southerncrescentsolutions.net\/wvortho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}