Root tears of the menisci were underappreciated as a clinical entity until a case report by Pagnani and coworkers, who described a medial meniscal root tear in a young thlete. This case and others in subsequent reports were managed by partial eniscectomy because they were felt to be irreparable or degenerative in origin or ecause techniques for repair had not yet been described. At the same time, as repair techniques began to appear in the literature, basic science, radiologic, and biomechanical studies supported the rational for doing so. There are now several ase series that report the clinical, radiologic, and second-look arthroscopic results of eniscal root repair. The majority of the available literature pertains to medial meniscal root tears, but there are some reports regarding lateral meniscal root tears. This article, like other reviews, summarizes what is currently known about his condition with emphasis on the medial meniscal root, but most of the concepts eem applicable to the lateral meniscus as well. Current consensus is that eniscal root tears should be clinically recognized, and strong consideration should e given to surgical repair in selected cases by utilizing 1 of several reported echniques designed to anatomically restore the root, maximize meniscal function, nd preserve the heath of the knee joint.