Background:Although numerous studies have assessed arthroscopic medial meniscal repairs, few studies have focused on factors affecting outcomes of vertical longitudinal and bucket-handle repairs.Purpose:To evaluate the factors affecting clinical outcomes of arthroscopically repaired traumatic vertical longitudinal and bucket-handle medial meniscal tears.Study Design:Case series; Level of evidence, 4.Methods:A total of 223 patients underwent arthroscopic repair for medial meniscal tears between 2007 and 2012; 140 patients had isolated tears or concurrent anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction, and 80 patients (76 men, 4 women; mean age, 29.1 years; range, 18-49 years) had vertical longitudinal tears and were included in the study. Pre- and postoperative functional status was assessed using physical examinations with Lysholm and International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) scores. Barrett criteria were used for clinical assessment of meniscal healing, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used as the radiologic assessment method. The effects of tear location, length, chronicity, and type; suturing technique; concurrent ACL reconstruction; and patient age, sex, and smoking habits were also investigated.Results:The mean follow-up period was 51.2 ± 9.4 months (range, 34-85 months). The mean Lysholm and IKDC scores improved at final follow-up (both Ps <.001). According to clinical scores, Barrett criteria, and MRI, failure was noted in 12 patients (15%). There were no significant differences in age, tear length, tear type, concurrent ACL rupture, suturing technique, or location of the meniscal repair between the success and failure groups. Failure rates were higher for red-white zone tears than for red-red zone tears (10/30, 33.3% vs 2/50, 4%; P = .004). Tear chronicity significantly affected failure rates. Early repairs had higher healing rates than late repairs (100% vs 73.4%; P = .008). Failure rates were higher for smokers than for nonsmokers (9/24, 37.5% vs 3/56, 5.3%; P = .008).Conclusion:Peripheral tears and early repairs have better outcomes and patient satisfaction. Smoking adversely affects meniscal healing.

Background: Lateral meniscal tears in the stable knee are rare. There are few comparative studies evaluating functional and radiological outcomes of vertical longitudinal and bucket-handle lateral meniscal tears. Purpose: To evaluate the midterm clinical and radiological outcomes of arthroscopically repaired traumatic vertical longitudinal and bucket-handle lateral meniscal tears. Study Design: Case series; Level of evidence, 4. Methods: A total of 43 full-thickness lateral meniscal repairs, including 22 (51.2%) for vertical longitudinal tears and 21 (48.8%) for bucket-handle tears, were evaluated. A clinical assessment was performed according to the Barrett criteria, and patient outcomes were measured with the Lysholm knee score, Tegner activity scale, and overall satisfaction scale. Magnetic resonance imaging was used as the radiological re-examination method preoperatively and at final follow-up. A subgroup analysis examining isolated repair versus repair with concurrent anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction was performed. Results: The mean follow-up period was 63.2 months (range, 24-86 months). Based on clinical and radiological outcomes, 38 of the 43 repairs (88.3%) were successful, and the remaining 5 (11.6%) cases were considered to be failures. Overall, the combined results for both groups demonstrated an improvement in the Lysholm score, Tegner score, and patient satisfaction. There was no significant difference in the postoperative Lysholm score (91.4 vs 87.0, respectively; P ¼ .223), Tegner score (5.4 vs 5.5, respectively; P ¼ .872), or patient satisfaction (7.2 vs 7.4, respectively; P ¼ .624) between bucket-handle repair and vertical longitudinal repair. The subgroup analysis demonstrated no difference in outcome scores for isolated repair versus repair with concurrent ACL reconstruction. Smoking was identified as a risk factor for repair failure. Conclusion: Comparable clinical and radiological outcomes were obtained after vertical longitudinal and bucket-handle lateral meniscal repairs using the all-inside or hybrid suture technique with different suture configurations, regardless of whether ACL reconstruction was performed. Smoking was identified as a risk factor for failure.

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Objective The purpose of this study was to examine arterial stiffness in elite basketball and soccer athletes by pulse wave velocity. Methods The cohort comprised 35 healthy male volunteers aged 17 to 26 years. All the subjects were either basketball players (n=9), soccer players (n=12) or sedentary controls (n=14). Arterial stiffness was measured by the Pulse Trace System (Micro Medical Ltd., Rochester, UK) and echocardiographic images were taken using a commercially available machine (Vivid 7 GE-Vingmed, Horten, Norway) with a 2.5 MHz transducer. Results The basketball players had significantly higher heights and body weights as compared to both the soccer players and the controls. The aortic elastic properties derived from the echocardiographic measurements did not differ between the groups. The peripheral pulse wave velocity measurements showed significantly lower values both in the basketball and soccer players compared to the controls, whereas the central pulse wave velocity measurement was significantly lower only in the basketball players as compared to the controls. No significant difference was seen between the basketball and soccer players. Conclusions The results of this study show that football and basketball exercises comprised of aerobic, anaerobic, endurance balance-coordination and sport-specific training play a role in reducing arterial stiffness. Level of evidence I; type of study: prognostic study.