Results of FasT Repair System for Meniscal Tears

It's clear now how important the meniscus is for the knee. So important that doctors no longer just remove it. Now they repair it with as little trauma as possible. To do this an all-inside arthroscopic method is used. New repair systems are available for this operation. This study reviews the results of using the FasT-Fix meniscal repair system.

Surgeons describe the parts of the FasT-Fix and the technique used for the repair with this system. Two suture anchors hold the meniscus in place. The repair takes about 11 minutes. Patients were followed for up to 18 months or longer. Measures of success included absence of pain along the joint line, no locking, and no swelling.

The authors report about a 10 percent failure rate. This means that 90 percent of the patients had no symptoms even a year and a half after the surgery. There were no locking episodes, and the knees were stable. There were no limits on sports activity. Everyone went back to work full-time.

There was no obvious reason why some patients failed in this study while most had a good clinical result. The results show that the FasT-Fix system is as good as other systems in use. It's unique in its ability to avoid damage or injury to the nerves and blood vessels near the meniscus. The authors plan to follow-up to see what the long-term results are.