Literature Supports Mensicus Repair as Treatment for Horizontal Cleavage Tears

Menlo Park, Calif.-based Ceterix Orthopaedics Inc. has sponsored an independent, systematic literature review evaluating the success rate of repairing horizontal meniscus tears, a common type of knee injury.

Patients with horizontal tears often undergo meniscectomy—the partial removal of the meniscus—based on the commonly-held opinion that meniscus repair is not effective for this tear type. However, meniscectomy has well-established limitations and long-term consequences, including the increased risk of arthritis. Ceterix Orthopaedics sponsored this independent review of published clinical studies related to the repair of horizontal cleavage tears.

The literature review examined more than 16,000 articles and found nine studies with evaluable data that reported results of horizontal cleavage tear repairs. A total of 98 repairs of horizontal tears were reported. Using reoperation as the criterion for treatment failure, 77 of the repairs were successful, resulting in an overall success rate of 77.8 percent. The study has been published online in the journal Arthroscopy.

“This study demonstrates that meniscus repair can be successful and suggests that, whenever possible, repair should be considered for patients with horizontal cleavage tears,” said orthopedic surgeon Peter Kurzweil, M.D., primary author of the study. “I have seen the benefits of repair in my own practice and hope that this analysis may lead more physicians to consider treatment that preserves the meniscus for horizontal tears.”

Arthroscopic surgery is a minimally-invasive procedure in which an orthopaedic surgeon treats the damaged joint through small incisions using specialized tools and guided by a tiny camera called an arthroscope. Meniscus surgery is the most common arthroscopic procedure in the United States, with roughly one million performed annually.

Ceterix’s interest in the subject is driven by devices such as its NovoStitch suture passer, designed to enable surgeons to place stitches arthroscopically in tight joint compartments to treat complex knee, hip and shoulder injuries that would not otherwise be amenable to repair.