Imagine being taken to an operating room, put to sleep, and having a surgeon cut you open but perform no actual surgery. This is exactly what happened to 146 Finnish patients with painful, degenerating knees. Half received a real arthroscopic partial meniscectomy, where surgeons remove frayed cartilage. The other half received a fake surgery. Neither the patients nor the doctors knew who received what.
Ten years later, the results are surprising and uncomfortable for doctors worldwide. The patients who had real surgery did not do better than those who had fake surgery. They did worse. They reported more knee pain, their knees worked less well, and their osteoarthritis had progressed further. More of them needed another operation.
The study, called FIDELITY, followed these patients for a full decade. Over 90 percent stayed in the study, which is unusually high. The research was done across five Finnish hospitals, led by Professor Teppo Järvinen from the University of Helsinki.
Earlier studies had already shown this surgery did not help after one or two years. This new ten-year data shows the same thing. What is surprising is that the surgery may actually be harmful in the long term. Many medical organizations have recommended stopping this procedure, but some professional groups still support it. The study shows that for degenerative tears in aging knees, surgery may not be useful.