The menisci are too often removed for no reason. It can lead to premature wear and tear of the knees.

"Save the menisci!" : it is the cry of alarm launched by a group of surgeons to alert on the too frequent ablations of this knee cartilage, an operation commonly performed but which involves long-term risks.

A painful knee, as if "rusty" , with the only prospect of regular infiltrations or even the fitting of a prosthesis: this picture normally reserved for the elderly nevertheless corresponds to the situation of thousands of patients in the prime of life.

The reason? An operation performed five, ten or twenty years ago on the menisci, these two small crescent-shaped cartilages located in each knee, between the femur and the tibia, and which play a role of stabilization and shock absorber in the joint.

If these interventions are sometimes necessary, we practice too much, and too drastically, while we could sometimes keep some of the cartilage, repair it, or even not operate at all, warns a group of orthopedic surgeons from the French Society. arthroscopy (SFA), on the occasion of the congress of this learned society which opens Wednesday in Rennes.

A "sometimes abusive" operation

"It's very small and it's very common" , which perhaps explains why the treatment of this area is "trivialized" and "sometimes abusive" , without the general public or the health authorities worrying about it. subject, explains Nicolas Pujol, secretary general of the SFA. "We want to train and inform surgeons, but also to educate all stakeholders for a public health goal: patients, decision-makers, sports doctors ..." , adds Yacine Carlier, member of the SFA office.

Knee cartilages can wear out, sometimes prematurely, or tear in the event of trauma (ski fall, car accident, etc.). While a damaged meniscus may go unnoticed, the injury can also cause severe pain, swelling of the knee, or impaired mobility of the joint. We can then stick to medical treatment (splinting, rest, anti-inflammatory drugs, rehabilitation ...) or operate to suture the meniscus, remove the broken part or remove all the cartilage.

As early as 2008, the French National Authority for Health (HAS) recommended to favor the conservation of the meniscus when possible and to perform a “most partial possible” ablation when an intervention is necessary. But this is still far from being the case, in France as in many other countries, according to the doctors of the SFA.