Early Surgery Versus Conservative Therapy for Meniscal Injuries in Older Patients — ESCAPE  

Meniscal Tear Clinical Trial

Official title: Cost-effectiveness of Early Surgery Versus Conservative Treatment With Optional Delayed Meniscectomy in Older Patients. A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Status Completed

Clinical Trial Summary

The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of both arthroscopic knee surgery and physical therapy in the treatment of non-obstructive meniscal injuries in older patients.

The investigators assume equal improvement of physical function in both groups and reduced costs with conservative treatment.

Clinical Trial Description

Rationale: Arthroscopic Partial Meniscectomy (APM) is the most performed orthopaedic procedure and is current standard treatment for patients with meniscal tears. Since superiority of APM over conservative treatment has not well been described and studies with direct comparison between APM and conservative treatment are sparse, therefore there is risk of large healthcare inefficiency.

Study design: Non-inferiority multicenter randomized controlled trial with an economic evaluation alongside. The study will be conducted by the Orthopaedic Research Consortium Mid-West Netherlands and performed in 6 clinics, including 2 academic medical centers.

402 patients between 45 and 70 years with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)-confirmed symptomatic, non-obstructive meniscal tears will be included. Patients will be assigned to either APM (n=201) or Physical Therapy (PT; n=201), with optional delayed APM (cross-over) when conservative treatment has failed. Block randomization will be done stratified for age and site. Data will be analysed on both intention to treat and per protocol basis.

Measurement points:

• Patients will be asked to complete questionnaires at baseline and 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, 24 and 60 months.

• At both 3 and 24 months they will visit the outpatient department for physical examination.

• At 24 and 60 months an X-ray will be obtained.

Sample size calculation: 402 patients, based on a power of 90%, an alpha of 0.05, a standard deviation of 20 points and a non-inferiority threshold of 8 points on the IKDC 'Subjective Knee Form'. Loss to follow up and cross-over have been taken into account in this calculation. ;

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Meniscal Tear

• NCT number: NCT01850719
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: Onze Lieve Vrouwe Gasthuis
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: July 2013
• Completion date: October 2017