A major knee injury is never good news for patients, but a meniscal tear is more likely to result in knee osteoarthritis down the track than anterior cruciate ligament damage, a review has found.

Those with meniscal damage are six times more likely to develop osteoarthritis in the injured knee compared with the good knee at least 10 years after the injury, according to the review led by Danish researchers. 

Patients with an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury face four times the risk of knee osteoarthritis in the injured knee, while patients with combined ACL and meniscal injuries also face a sixfold greater chance of knee osteoarthritis. 

“When sustaining an isolated meniscal injury or an injury affecting both the ACL and meniscus, the odds increase to sixfold compared with a non-injured knee, indicating the injured meniscus plays an important role in osteoarthritis development,” the researchers write in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.