Can even experienced orthopaedic surgeons predict who will benefit from surgery when patients present with degenerative meniscal tears? A survey of 194 orthopaedic surgeons who made 3880 predictions.

Objectives: To examine the ability of surgeons to predict the outcome of treatment for meniscal tears by arthroscopic partial meniscectomy (APM) and exercise therapy in middle-aged patients.

Design And Setting: Electronic survey. Orthopaedic surgeon survey participants were presented 20 patient profiles.

Direct and indirect costs associated with nonoperative treatment for shoulder instability: an observational study in 132 patients.

Background: Shoulder instability is associated with decreased functioning. The associated costs could be substantial and interesting to clinicians, researchers, and policy makers. This prospective observational study aims to (1) estimate productivity losses and healthcare expenses following the nonoperative treatment of shoulder instability and (2) identify patient characteristics that influence societal costs.

Pronounced biomaterial dependency in cartilage regeneration using nonexpanded compared with expanded chondrocytes.

Aim: We aimed to investigate freshly isolated compared with culture-expanded chondrocytes with respect to early regenerative response, cytokine production and cartilage formation in response to four commonly used biomaterials.

Materials & Methods: Chondrocytes were both directly and after expansion to passage 2, incorporated into four biomaterials: Polyactive™, Beriplast®, HyStem® and a type II collagen gel. Early cartilage matrix gene expression, cytokine production and glycosaminoglycan (GAG) and DNA content in response to these biomaterials were evaluated.