Do You Need Arthroscopic Knee Surgery?

The older you are, the more likely you are to have torn your meniscus, cartilage in your knee that functions as a shock absorber in the joint. As many as 60 percent of adults over age 70 have a torn meniscus, according to the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine.

And if you have chronic knee pain, your doctor may order an imaging test such as an MRI and, if he sees a tear, recommend arthroscopic knee surgery, which involves repairing the damage through two tiny incisions.

But back in 2002, a study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that arthroscopic knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus was no more effective than placebo surgery in which doctors cut open the skin and simulated a repair.

Since then, other studies—including two 2013 trials also published in the NEJM—found that arthroscopic knee surgery was no better than physical therapy or placebo surgery.

Why would doctors continue to recommend a procedure proven to be ineffective for many people? Often simply because it takes many years for doctors to give up old therapies after studies show them to be ineffective or dangerous, says Vinayak K. Prasad, M.D., an assistant professor of medicine, public health, and ethics at the Oregon Health & Science University and co-author of “Ending Medical Reversal."

Sometimes doctors may simply be unaware of new evidence, Prasad points out. And some healthcare providers may stick with outdated procedures simply because they’re lucrative or fit their view, Prasad says.

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Do You Need Arthroscopic Knee Surgery?