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Check out our scope after medial meniscus transplant 1 year later,well healed and difficult to tell its a cadaver tissue.
Dr. Garcia specializes in complex knee, shoulder and elbow sports surgeries. He has prepared a number of surgical videos below to help patients better understand their procedures. He is frequently updating his surgical video database so check back soon for further updates.
This video provides a direct arthroscopic look into a patient’s knee joint exactly one year following a medial meniscus transplant.
A meniscus transplant is a highly advanced joint-preservation surgery performed for active patients who have previously had their original meniscus removed (often due to non-repairable tearing). Over time, a missing meniscus leaves the femoral and tibial cartilages unprotected, grinding directly against one another and leading to rapid joint degeneration. To stop this arthritis pathway, a structurally matched donor meniscus (allograft) is carefully transplanted into the knee.
Arthroscopic Evaluation Checklist
The primary goal of this follow-up scope is to visually inspect and physically test how well the donor tissue has integrated over 12 months:
- Tissue Incorporation: Dr. Garcia inserts a camera into the medial compartment of the knee to evaluate the color, texture, and attachment points of the donor allograft. The tissue appears healthy, smooth, and robustly anchored down to its anatomical tibial footprint, indicating the bone plugs or anchors used during the initial transplant have completely fused with the patient's skeleton.
- Structural Reducibility & Tracking: Using a metal surgical probe, the surgeon hooks the edge of the transplanted meniscus. He applies physical traction to ensure that the new cushion does not hyper-mobilize, subluxate (partially slip out), or demonstrate abnormal extrusion when mechanical stress is introduced. The donor tissue holds its structural shape and boundary beautifully.
- Chondral Protection: Dr. Garcia sweeps the camera across the opposing surfaces of the thighbone (femur) and shinbone (tibia). The white articular cartilage on both sides remains highly intact and smooth. This serves as definitive proof that the transplanted allograft is functioning flawlessly as a shock absorber, effectively halting the friction and bone-on-bone contact that drives arthritic wear.
