Can to much torn cartilage be removed during arthroscopic surgery to cause the medial side of the knee joint to collapse?

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I had torn my cartilage in my medial side of my left knee 20 years ago. In 1999, arthroscopic surgery was common place so I decided to have the surgery done to improve the efficiency of my left knee joint which would bind up every know and then. The knee joint had good alignment and was functioning pretty well with only a few minor glitches before the surgery. After the surgery however, the knee never recuperated and was always sore. I went to two different orthopedic surgeons, the last one on April 1st 2003, and the xray showed that the medial side of the thigh bone was a fraction of an inch from touching the medial side of the shin bone. The knee joint had collapsed. Can you tell me what might have happened?

-- Dale Gorney (dale@ag.arizona.edu), April 12, 2003

Answers

The meniscus is an important weight bearing structure in the knee. When it is removed (which is often the only choice when it is torn) the knee slowly degenerates. This deterioration can take years.

-- Marc Hungerford, M.D. (mhunger@jhmi.edu), July 07, 2003.

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