Curative effect of limited arthroscopic debridement for knee osteoarthritis

Objective To investigate the efficacy of different patterns of arthroscopic debridement for osteoarthritis of the knee-joint.Methods Retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of patients with knee-joint osteoarthritis treated with arthroscopic debridement,including follow-up evaluation of Lysholm score for the knee-joint function before the operation and at 1,6 and 12 months after surgery,the radiographic classification for osteoarthritis of the knee and Ogilive-Harris evaluation of arthroscopic cartilage lesion on each articular surface of the knee.Results The radiographic changes and degenerative changes of articular cartilage were not linearly correlated to functional appearance of the knee-joint.Clinical efficacy of extensive arthroscopic debridement was similar to local debridement in treating knee-joint osteoarthritis.Conclusion These data suggest that clinical effect of limited arthroscopic debridement on osteoarthritis of the knee is effective in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis.The degree of debridement of degenerative cartilage does not depend on the radiographic evaluation of osteoarthritis of the knee and the degree of pathological cartilage.The limited arthroscopic debridement of damaged cartilage can get good result focusing on releasing pain.The therapeutic effect of extensive debridement of cartilage lesions is not better than that of limited debridement in treating osteoarthritis of the knee-joint.