Anyone else with a child who has had a meniscectomy?

Tamito75

Hello. My 11 year old daughter recently had a subtotal meniscectomy (removal of meniscus) due to a very large bucket handle tear. The consultant says she will need a meniscal replacement / transplant when she is skeletally mature i.e. has stopped growing. Anyone else in this situation? Apparently it is extremely rare for a child to have had a meniscectomy so there is very little data on treatment success, and long term outlook, and I would love to find someone else who has experience of this.

PeterJ

Hello @Tamito75 and welcome to our forum. We are a friendly and supportive group so I hope that others will connect with you and share their experiences.

I see that your daughter had a subtotal meniscectomy and likely to need replacement/transplant when she is older. As you say there is not much information available for one so young.

Our website contains some information and I would suggest you have a look through it, I've highlighted a couple of links below which might be of use

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/your-experiences/your-questions-answered/your-questions-on-surgery-and-arthritis/

https://www.versusarthritis.org/news/2020/december/how-can-we-avoid-joint-replacement-in-osteoarthritis/

One other link your daughter might be interested in is

https://www.versusarthritis.org/get-involved/young-experts/

where hopefully she could connect with people of her own age, please take a look.

In the meantime please do keep posting and hopefully others will connect with you to share their stories

With very best wishes

Peter (Moderator)

YvonneH

Hi @Tamito75

I'm have no knowledge of meniscus issues in children to offer, but I wonder if your daughter has seen all the help we offer to youngsters with arthritis

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/young-people/

I hope this will prove helpful for you both

Take care

Yvonne x

Tamito75

Thanks Yvonne and Peter - she does not have osteorthritis yet - symptoms will start to appear approx 5 years after meniscectomy - so I have not introduced her to this forum yet. Most of the posts on this forum are from parents whose children have JIA. I wonder if there are any parents on this forum who have children with traumatic onset osteoarthritis i.e. occurring after an injury or surgery?

YvonneH

Hi @Tamito75

I've asked for an email to be sent around the different nations for the Young Peoples and Family Services to see if there is anyone they know in a siilar position to your daughter. We can't expect a speedy reply but when one arrives I will post it here.

Hope all is well at the moment

Yvonne x

Tamito75

Many thanks Yvonne that is really helpful. It is really so that we know what to expect and to hear other people's experiences of different treatment options, and also for my daughter to know, when the time comes, that there are other children who are going through or have been through the same thing