As compared to physical therapy (PT) alone, Arthroscopic partial meniscectomy (APM) with PT provides a significant reduction in pain in individuals with osteoarthritis and meniscal tear, evident from a recently published report in the American Journal of Sports Medicine.

First, the authors evaluated whether the impact of treatment on pain scores at six months varied from baseline by using the data from the Meniscal Tear in Osteoarthritis Research (MeTeOR) trial. Second, the authors aggregate MRI characteristics correlated with differential pain relief between PT and APM to produce a "damage score". Damage score comprised bone marrow lesion number and cartilage damage size with potential values of 0 (least damage), 1 (moderate), and 2 (greatest). The relationship between pain relief and damage score at six months varied for APM versus PT were measured by applying the linear models.

A total of 220 patients were included, out of which 34% showed greatest, 52% moderate and 13% the least damage. However, the modification of the association between change in pain and damage score could not be done. The patients with moderate and least damage showed greater improvement in a Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score pain subscale with APM than with PT. The patients with the highest damage exhibited related improvement with PT and APM. These findings explain that patients with less intra-articular damage on MRI showed better improvements with APM and PT combination.