The menisci are fibrocartilaginous wedge-shaped structures of the knee. Through their unique shape, structural density and attachments they provide an important biomechanical role within the joint, allowing forces distribution on hyaline cartilage, providing stability to the joint and promoting synovial fluid distribution and cartilage nutrition.
When the integrity of the menisci is not preserved, progressive, irreversible joint damage, and osteoarthritis can become unavoidable
Even if the awareness of the importance of the menisci has dramatically grown in these last years, only less than 10% of repairable meniscal lesions are indeed repaired, being meniscectomy still one of the most frequent surgery performed by orthopaedic surgeons.
Different innovative options have been proposed over the years to replace a damaged or lost meniscal tissue, with the aim to allow satisfactory clinical improvement to patients and delay the progression of osteoarthritis.
When a meniscal rim is still present, meniscal scaffolds can be used to treat segmental defects
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