The Medial Meniscus is a known secondary stabilizer to the ACL in terms of anterior tibial translation in the knee. So what happens after ACL reconstruction if the medial meniscus is deficient? Dr. Andrew Fithian, MD joins us to discuss his study addressing this very question. Coming to us from Kaiser Permanente San Diego, Dr. Fithian and his team investigated postoperative anterior tibial translation in autograft ACL patients with an intact medial meniscus, a repaired medial meniscus, or a partially resected medial meniscus. The results may guide decision making when facing a situation with an irreparable medial meniscus tear in the setting of an ACL tear, particularly with graft choice.

As another exciting NFL season kicks off, Sports Medicine community members and fans alike continue to ponder whether the risk of lower extremity injury is higher on artificial turf versus grass. We welcome UCSF’s Chief of Sports Medicine & Shoulder Surgery and host of the podcast 6-8 Weeks: Perspectives on Sports Medicine, Dr. Brian Feeley, MD to discuss his team’s recent publication in OJSM examining this very question.

Historically, ACL repair resulted in poor outcomes and this procedure fell out of favor while ACL reconstruction became the gold-standard surgical approach for a torn ACL. Recently, thanks in part to the advent of more modern techniques, ACL repair has regained interest in the Sports Medicine community as a potentially viable option in certain situations that may provide advantages in comparison to ACL reconstruction. To this point, the literature comparing these two surgeries with modern techniques has been heterogenous in terms of quality and design, and results have been mixed. Drs. Kyle Kunze, MD and Benedict Nwachukwu, MD, MBA and their team from Hospital of Special Surgery (HSS) bring us this systematic review and meta-analysis to cull the best literature available. Their findings indicate that, while ACL repair may have an evolving role in our toolbox, its failure rate remains higher than that of ACL reconstruction and thus should be approached with caution.