Arthroscopic Surgery for Knee Osteoarthritis — No Benefit

In a previous study of patients with knee osteoarthritis, arthroscopic lavage and débridement was not superior to a placebo intervention — sham arthroscopy (JW Jul 16 2002). Now, in another randomized trial, Canadian researchers assigned 178 patients with moderate-to-severe knee osteoarthritis either to physical and medical therapy plus arthroscopic surgery or to physical and medical therapy alone. Arthroscopic surgery included irrigation plus other interventions as appropriate (e.g., débridement of articular cartilage, débridement or partial resection of meniscus). Patients with large meniscal tears and those with substantial valgus and varus deformities were excluded.

At 3 months, the arthroscopy group showed significantly greater improvem…