Research has shown that age-related changes like arthritis and cartilage damage can affect how satisfied patients are with this kind of surgery.

A study looked at the results of "partial meniscectomy" for patients over 70. For patients who had little or no arthritis or cartilage damage, the surgery had good results nearly 85 percent of the time. But only about half of the patients who had arthritis were satisfied with their results four years later. Sixty-nine percent of those who showed cartilage damage were satisfied.

Cartilage damage is usually evaluated during surgery. But arthritis can be seen in an X-ray. Your doctor can tell you about signs of arthritis in your knee and whether this may affect your results from surgery.