PARTIAL RESECTION OF THE DISCOID MENISCUS IN THE CHILD’S KNEE

Seven children underwent partial meniscectomy for symptomatic discoid lateral meniscus. This procedure, modifying the discoid meniscus to the normal semilunar shape, was indicated only when degeneration or tear was minimal, when the meniscus was not abnormally thickened nor ofWrisberg type, when it was not hypermobile, when the capsular attachment was intact, and when the residual meniscus was free from abnormality. The results were excellent clinically, radiologically and arthroscopically, rehabilitation was shortened to half that required for total meniscectomy and the residual meniscus functioned entirely normally. In the past, abnormalities of the meniscus in children have given difficulties in diagnosis because of the ambiguity of the patient’s complaints, the uncer-tainty of clinical signs and the inadequate information provided by plain radiographs. Precise diagnosis has become possible by means of double-contrast arthro-graphy and arthroscopy