Arthroscopic debridement of the degenerative knee – Is there still a role?

The role of arthroscopic debridement in the painful degenerative knee is controversial. Studies have shown that arthroscopic surgery for knee osteoarthritis provides no additional benefit to optimized physical and medical therapy. There are however, limited studies on the management of the subgroup of significantly symptomatic patients who remain refractory to maximal conservative treatment and are poor candidates for knee replacement surgery. We propose that with careful patient selection, arthroscopic debridement can provide good symptomatic relief with sustained benefits in the degenerative knee. We performed a retrospective, single-surgeon study of 180 consecutive knee arthroscopies performed in 169 patients, aged 40 years and above, who had mechanical symptoms affecting their daily lives and underwent arthroscopic debridement after failure of a minimum 2 months of optimized medical and physical therapy. Severity of the knee osteoarthritis on plain radiographs was assessed using the Kellgren-Lawrence classification. Functional and satisfaction scores were assessed using Oxford Knee Score, Koos Knee Survey, Short Form-36, Numeric Pain Rating Scale, and questions adapted from the North American Spine Society Questionnaire. Excellent functional outcomes and patient satisfaction were reported in the majority of patients over the follow-up timeframe of 2–8 years. The mean pre-operative Kellgren-Lawrence score was 2.02 (SD 0.580). Significant improvements compared to pre-operative scores were seen across all scoring systems tested. 90% of patients reported good to excellent results. Arthroscopic knee debridement can provide good symptomatic relief and sustained benefits in significantly symptomatic patients with early degenerative knees who have failed conservative management. This is most useful in patients with mechanical symptoms secondary to degenerative meniscal tears or chondral flaps, and those with symptomatic patellofemoral osteoarthritis.