Arthroscopy: The Journal of Arthroscopic & Related Surgery
Original ArticleNo Increased Occurrence of Osteoarthritis After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction After Isolated Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury in Athletes
Section snippets
Methods
This study uses data collected from 1995 until 2005 taken from our knee database. All patients with an isolated rupture of the ACL related to a trauma while playing soccer or skiing who underwent ACL reconstruction and returned to previous sports activity were included. We excluded all patients with accompanying injuries involving the meniscus, posterior cruciate ligament, cartilage, and collateral ligaments, as well as any injury to the contralateral knee. Any postoperative complication to the
Clinical Evaluation at Follow-up
In 9 (56%) of the injured soccer players, the dominant (kicking) leg was affected. The evaluation of knee stability showed a misalignment of the ACL graft in 1 patient, which was classified as abnormal according to IKDC testing, because of a positive pivot shift and a positive anterior drawer test of more than 10 mm. All the others showed a defined endpoint, of which 61% had normal stability (–1 to +2 mm) (group A), 36% had nearly normal stability (+3 to +5 mm) (group B), and 3% had abnormal
Discussion
The results from our study confirmed the hypothesis that the long-term prevalence of OA would not be increased in athletes returning to preinjury sports after ACL reconstruction after isolated ACL rupture when we compared the injured knee with the uninjured contralateral knee.
The literature is full of articles dealing with ACL injuries and their treatment. To increase the meaningfulness of this study, we focused on a selected and very limited but absolutely homogeneous group of patients.
Conclusions
Athletes with an isolated ACL rupture showed no increased risk of the development of post-traumatic OA in the long-term after ACL replacement when compared with the uninjured contralateral knee. Our findings support the evidence to perform ACL replacement in athletes.
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The authors report that they have no conflicts of interest in the authorship and publication of this article.