Do meniscal repairs with meniscus cyst do better than meniscectomy?-a systematic review of meniscal cyst treatment.

Background: This systematic review aims to determine the best modality for the management of meniscal cysts and its associated meniscus tear; whether the meniscal cyst treated via arthroscopy or open methods and whether meniscal debridement or repair achieves better results.

Methods: This systematic review was performed using PRISMA guidelines. A literature search of PubMed, EMBASE and Cochrane was carried out in July 2020 using the search terms 'meniscal cyst' and 'treatment'. All clinic studies that included filters for papers in the last 20 years, English language, and meniscal cysts found in humans were included. Studies that contained case reports, were in any language other than English, and with subjects that were not humans were excluded. The methodology quality assessment was performed through the modified Coleman methodology score (CMS).

Results: A total of 166 results were obtained from PubMed, Cochrane library and EMBASE. Of them, 12 duplicates were identified across the databases and removed from consideration. Six papers were found relevant from EMBASE in which 1 was eventually included in this paper. In total, 12 papers were used in this study. The weighted mean age of the patients was 35.1 years, with total of 523 meniscal cysts, of which 488 of these cysts are associated with meniscal tears (93.31%). The studies included performed cystectomies and/or decompression of meniscal cysts while some left the meniscal cyst alone and dealt with the meniscal lesion instead. All clinical scores showed significant improvement following surgical procedures.

Conclusions: Both arthroscopic and open methods can be used for meniscal cysts treatment. Open cystectomy rather than decompression seemed to confer lower risk of cyst recurrences and complications. It is inconclusive to whether meniscal repair or meniscus debridement influenced recurrence and outcome scores. A recommendation for meniscus repair cannot be made due to insufficient high-quality level I or II trials.