One of the most common orthopedic procedures, knee arthroscopic surgery, is proving to be an unnecessary course of action for many patients who have a torn meniscus in their knee. To look into the necessity of this procedure a recent study in Finland, compared patients who had a certain kind of meniscal tear. These participants, who were ages 35 to 65, either underwent surgery or a sham procedure that mimicked everything concerning a surgery but never actually conducted the operation.
The authors found that both the operated and un-operated patients reported an improvement in their knees a year later. “The finding gives further credence or support to a number of studies that have shown that giving arthroscopy to patients is not always going to make a difference,” David Jevsevar, chairman of the committee on evidence-based quality and value of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons…
