MATERIALS AND METHODS: A prospective cohort study involving 240 patients undergoing mobile-bearing medial UKA was conducted. Group A (na=80) received postoperative correction of Vitamin D3 Deficiency (VDD), Group B (nb=80) received pre-operative correction of VDD, while Group C (nc=80) had normal Vitamin D3 levels to begin with (≥30ng/ml). Correction was done by three doses of intramuscular injection of 600,000 IU Arachitol® (Vitamin D3) given at an interval of one week each. All groups were matched for demography and outcome measures. The level of bone pain by checking for tibial shin tenderness quantified by the visual analog scale (VAS) and evaluated pre-operatively, and at 2, 4, 6 and 12 weeks post-operatively.
RESULTS: Group B and C showed similar post-operative trends and remained significantly superior to Group A till the 6th-week follow-up. The biostatistical difference between Group A and the other two groups started decreasing after the completion of post-operative correction regime as noticed on the 6th-week follow-up. By 12 weeks post-operatively, all three groups had similar levels of bone pain.
CONCLUSION: Vitamin D3 serves as an important preoperative investigation in patients undergoing UKA as it is a modifiable risk factor affecting post-operative bone pain. Its correction pre-operatively gives excellent post-operative pain control.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a multicentric, prospective study initiated by the corresponding author, and the findings validated subsequently by the other authors. Overall, it included 804 patients of isolated medial meniscus tear operated with arthroscopic all-inside technique between January 2014 and December 2017. Patients were segregated into three groups based on whether an S-shaped curve in the free, inner edge of the medial meniscus sign was formed post-repair, lost after further tightening, or not formed upon subjective completion of repair. All the patients were followed-up and evaluated based of medial joint line tenderness, McMurray's test for medial meniscus, IKDC score, WOMET score, and radiologically using an MRI at the terminal follow-up.
RESULTS: The mean terminal follow-up was 42.34±4.54 months. There was significant (p<0.01) improvement in all patients at the terminal follow-up post-surgery, irrespective of the group. The group in which AMR sign was formed and maintained showed a significantly better functional outcome on terminal follow-up as well as lower failure rates compared to the other two groups.
CONCLUSION: AMR sign is an S-shaped fold at the inner, free edge of medial meniscus, formed after an adequate repair of isolated medial meniscus tear, as viewed on arthroscopy. It is an objective sign denoting regained integrity of the collagen architecture of the medial meniscus following repair. It is also a reliable indicator of excellent long term functional, clinical, and radiological outcome and also lower failure rates in patients after arthroscopic medial meniscus repair.