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Research Snapshot

Meniscectomy and Resultant Articular Cartilage Lesions of the Knee Among Prospective National Football League Players: An Imaging and Performance Analysis

February 6, 2023 – MeniscusTears.com

Read full study here

Study Purpose

This study was done to examine both cartilage condition and sport performance of NFL players who had a previous meniscectomy versus players with intact meniscus.

Participants

The study included NFL players from 2009-2015: 287 individuals who had a prior meniscectomy, and 287 who had no history of knee surgery.

Outcomes

Each player’s medical records were analyzed, for meniscus and cartilage condition. Players who had previously had at least 10% of their meniscus removed were compared with knee-intact players for sports performance measures: draft position, number of games played and started, and how many eligible plays they participated in within the first two NFL seasons.

Main Findings

  • Of players with a prior meniscectomy, 247 (85%) had lesions on their cartilage; those who had at least 10% of their meniscus volume removed were more likely to have severe lesions than players who still had more than 90% of their meniscus.
  • For most positions, players with prior meniscectomy performed worse in their seasons than those without prior knee injury.
  • Players with severe cartilage lesions had significantly worse sports performance when compared with the group with no lesions.

Key Message

NFL players with previous meniscectomy were more likely to have lesions on their cartilage, and a significant decrease in their performance, than those with an intact meniscus.

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    About Dr. Justin Saliman

    Justin D. Saliman, MD, located in Beverly Hills, is a Stanford sports medicine trained orthopaedic surgeon operating out of Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles.

     

    He is the founder of Ceterix® Orthopaedics and the inventor of the NovoStitch® Pro Meniscal Repair System, which was acquired by a large medical device company called Smith & Nephew in 2019.

    The device was granted FDA approval in 2012 and Dr. Saliman has been using it to preserve knee joints ever since.

     

    Nobody has more experience sewing meniscus tears
    back together than Dr. Saliman.

     

    He is specialized in joint preserving minimally invasive techniques to repair injuries to the knee to prevent arthritis and the need for joint replacement later in life.

    Dr. Saliman completed a sports medicine fellowship at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, where he cared for the San Francisco 49ers and the athletic teams at Santa Clara and Stanford Universities.

    Prior to his fellowship, he completed his orthopaedic surgery residency at the prestigious St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center of Columbia University in New York City. He earned his medical degree at the University of Colorado School of Medicine outside his hometown of Denver.

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      8436 W 3rd Street
      Los Angeles, CA 9004812

      Get the best treatment for your knee.

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