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14.11.2018 02:25:57
Among the human joints, the knee in its construction is considered to be very complicated. That it can even be rotated, it owes the two moon-shaped menisci.
The word meniscus means translated as moonlike body. The sickle-like cartilage disc, or rather the discs, are located inside the knee joint. The two menisci provide optimized pressure distribution between the thigh and lower leg and act as brake pads that prevent displacement of the joint surfaces. In addition, the two moons serve the involved bones as plain bearings and ensure a proverbially smooth functioning of the knee joint.
Damage in the meniscus can have a variety of causes. "In general, a distinction is made between acute meniscal injuries and degenerative changes of the meniscus," says Tobias Roth, Senior Physician and Deputy Head of the Knee Team at the Department of Traumatology in Innsbruck. The tear is the most common form of injury: "Young patients often experience meniscal tears during sports, often in combination with ligament injuries," says Roth.
If the movement is too sudden, the hardly existing elasticity of the meniscus is insufficient to give way. If there is a rotational movement of the knee joint under pressure, the meniscus can not withstand. It comes to the crack or it can also lead to a joint blockade by a part of the crescent-shaped cartilage disc between upper and lower leg is clamped. Patients often experience considerable pain even in the lightest movements - not least because the meniscal injury is usually accompanied by torn ligaments.
In this type of injury, the meniscus is torn over a longer distance or even completely severed. "This loses the buffering function of the meniscus. At the same time it loses the ability to stabilize the joint, "explains the expert.
Meniscal surgery is one of the most commonly performed surgical procedures in Austria. The aim is to fully restore the mobility in the knee and to obtain as much meniscal tissue as possible. "Especially in young patients should be trying to sew the meniscus," says the knee surgeon.
Depending on the type of crack and the quality of the fabric, however, you sometimes have to remove a part. Depending on this, after the operation, a regeneration phase lasting several weeks with physiotherapy and further weeks of stress build-up will be needed. "After about three months of absence from exercise, the patients can do everything again as before," says the knee expert.
In a few cases there is a high or total loss of the meniscus due to excessive damage or repeated injuries. In that case, a meniscal transplantation could possibly help the young patient. "Similar to a kidney transplant, patients receive a donor meniscus," says Roth. The difference: the cartilaginous tissue can be freshly frozen unlike the organs. "Tissue banks such as those in Bologna store the corpse miniscus and deliver it when needed." The success rate of a Meniskustransplantation is about 80 percent.
But it is also quite different: Not in all cases of meniscus injury even a surgery is necessary. Especially in older people, whose menisci have worn over a longer period in the course of osteoarthritis, you can already achieve much with a corresponding physiotherapy.
