In this post I link to and excerpt from Arthroscopic surgery for degenerative knee arthritis and meniscal tears: a clinical practice guideline [PubMed Abstract] [Full Text HTML] [Full Text PDF]. BMJ. 2017 May 10;357:j1982. doi: 10.1136/bmj.j1982.
The above article has been cited by 25 PubMed Central articles.
Here are excerpts:
What is the role of arthroscopic surgery in degenerative knee disease? An expert panel produced these recommendations based on a linked systematic review triggered by a randomised trial published in The BMJ in June 2016, which found that, among patients with a degenerative medial meniscus tear, knee arthroscopy was no better than exercise therapy. The panel make a strong recommendation against arthroscopy for degenerative knee disease.
*MAGICapp is an awesome site for guidelines with decision aids. Definetely check it out.
Costs and resources
The panel focused on the patient perspective rather than
that of society when formulating the recommendation.
However, implementation of this recommendation will
almost certainly result in considerable cost savings for
health funders. A rigorous economic analysis found that
knee arthroscopy for degenerative knee disease is not close
to cost effective by traditional standards, even in extreme
scenarios that assume a benefit with arthroscopy.30 The
panel made a strong recommendation against arthroscopy,
which applies to almost all patients with degenerative knee
disease, implying that non-use of knee arthroscopy can be
used as a performance measure or tied to health funding.31
