Substantial cost savings could be achieved by eliminating the practice of routine histological examinations of knee arthroscopy tissue, according to a study published in the June issue of the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. These routine pathological examinations are of limited cost-effectiveness because of the low prevalence of findings that altered patient management. As a result, the authors suggest that gross and histological examinations should be performed only at the discretion of the orthopedic surgeon. There are more than 1 million knee arthroscopies performed annually in the United States, making it the most common orthopedic surgical procedure performed. Pathological evaluation is commonly performed as routine practice on samples acquired during this procedure, due to a lack of exemption from accreditation guidelines (the College of American Pathologists and the Joint Commission). In the present study, medical records were reviewed for 3,797 consecutive knee arthroscopies (partial meniscectomies and anterior cruciate ligament [ACL] reconstructions) performed by two surgeons (from 2004 to 2013). Pathology reports were reviewed to determine if the results altered patient care and the total costs of histological examination were estimated in 2012-adjusted U.S. dollars. The researchers found that the prevalence of concordant diagnoses was 99.3 percent, the prevalence of […]