Arthroscopic partial meniscectomy (APM) is one of the most common surgical procedures in the world. However, the value of APM has come under intense scrutiny.¹ Multiple randomized clinical trials, including the sham surgery–controlled Finnish Degenerative Meniscal Lesion Study (FIDELITY),² revealed no benefit from the procedure in patients with degenerative meniscal tears compared with exercise and physical therapy.^3,4 Evidence that may support an APM-only procedure (APM not associated with a ligament, cartilage, or meniscus repair) is for a small subset of patients with an acute traumatic meniscal tear, but these typically occur in younger, non-Medicare patients. Despite this, APM-only procedures continue to be common among Medicare beneficiaries.¹ To better understand the disparity between the medical evidence and current orthopedic practice, we designed this study to measure surgeon practice patterns of APM-only procedures.

关节镜部分半月板切除术（APM）是世界上最常见的外科手术之一。但是，APM的价值受到了严格的审查。¹多项随机临床试验，包括假手术控制的芬兰退行性半月板病变研究（FIDELITY），²显示与运动和物理疗法相比，退行性半月板撕裂患者的手术无益处。^{3 ，4}可能支持仅APM手术的证据（与韧带，软骨或半月板修复无关的APM）是针对一小部分患有急性外伤性半月​​板撕裂的患者，但这些通常发生在年轻的非医疗保险患者中。尽管如此，在医疗保险的受益人中，仅采用APM的程序仍然很普遍。¹为了更好地了解医学证据与当前的骨科实践之间的差异，我们设计了本研究，以测量仅采用APM程序的外科医生实践模式。