Abstract
The importance of knee meniscus function is now recognized, and the treatment of meniscus
injury has been changing from resection to repair. However, depending on the type
of injury, meniscectomy sometimes cannot be avoided. The young athlete might undergo
meniscectomy in order to return to sports life as early as possible. However, in such
a knee, it is important to anticipate the future problem of degenerative change or
osteoarthrosis. In consideration of the prognosis and circumstances in such patients,
we have developed an artificial meniscus using polyvinyl alcohol-hydrogel (PVA-H)
and performed mechanical tests for compression and stress–relaxation. We found that
the human meniscus has unique viscoelastic properties and a high water content. PVA-H
showed viscoelastic behaviour similar to that of human meniscus in mechanical tests.
These results suggest that an artificial meniscus using PVA-H with a high water content
can compensate for meniscal function and might be clinically applicable.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
July 30,
2002
Received in revised form:
May 1,
2002
Received:
October 19,
2001
Identification
Copyright
© 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
