CORR Insights^®: What Is the Mid-term Failure Rate of Revision ACL Reconstruction? A Systematic Review

Excerpt

Revision ACL reconstruction procedures can be challenging for orthopaedic surgeons. If a revision ACL graft is placed in an anatomically correct position with good quality bone and intact cartilage and menisci, stability and knee function are likely to be restored similar to a primary ACL reconstruction. More limited, but still encouraging, results can be expected in patients with complex multiligament instabilities, major associated cartilage lesions, limited quality bone stock, or in patients with long-standing symptoms of instability and pain. In these complex situations, ACL revision reconstruction should be considered a salvage procedure with distinctly different goals (eg, return to function and sports) from those of primary ACL reconstruction. Associated procedures like osteotomies or meniscal transplantations may be part of the picture, each of which raise the stakes considerably. …