Surgical Trends in the Treatment of Meniscal Tears

Background:The indications and criteria for meniscal repair are expanding in parallel with new understanding in biomechanics, joint pathophysiology, and increased physician education.Purpose:To describe the practice patterns of arthroscopic meniscal treatment in recent years, compare the trends of arthroscopic meniscal repair versus arthroscopic meniscectomy, and compare sports fellowship–trained versus non–sports fellowship–trained surgeons in terms of arthroscopic meniscal treatment techniques among American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery (ABOS) candidates from 2004 to 2012.Study Design:Descriptive epidemiology study.Methods:The ABOS database was used to identify cases of meniscal repair, partial meniscectomy, and anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction from 2004 to 2012. The number of surgeons contributing cases for each calendar year was also recorded, along with the number who had sports fellowship training. Rates were calculated as the number of procedures per surgeon per year. Trends were ana...