A systematic review of randomized controlled trials concerning degenerative meniscus tears

Background:
The diagnosis of a degenerative meniscus tear is related to the patient's age, symptoms, knee joint line tenderness, and imaging. Physical activity in patients struggling with knee problems or simply in the general population is important. Knee arthroscopy is one of the most popular surgical procedures for the treatment of degenerative meniscus tears. The answer for the question how to treat a middle-aged patient with degenerative knee changes is still needed.

Aims:
To provide an overview of high-quality randomized controlled trials RCTs) on the treatment of degenerative meniscus tears.

Material and methods:
A literature search was conducted in September 2022 on the PubMed, PEDro, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials to identify RCTs comparing different treatment methods and rehabilitation of egenerative meniscus tears.

Results:
A total of 12 RCTs involving 1422 patients were collected. They included treatments like arthroscopic partial meniscectomy (APM), exercise interventions, hyaluronic acid injection (HAI), platelet rich plasma (PRP) intrameniscal injections, and human mesenchymal stem cell injections.

Conclusions:
Exercise therapy should be the first line of treatment for degenerative meniscus tears in middle-aged and older people without traumatic injuries. A sample exercise therapy plan based on the included research is resented in this work. A surgical (or sham) approach may be considered if conservative treatment fails.