Revision anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: a midterm patient assessment

Twenty patients who underwent revision anterior cruciate reconstruction were retrospectively reviewed. Before revision surgery all patients reported functional instability with daily and or sporting activities. The causes of primary graft failure have been identified. Four different types of graft were used for the revision reconstruction. A comprehensive knee analysis was used to assess the graft performance both subjectively and objectively at an arranged follow-up visit. In general our study shows that although there is residual antero-posterior laxity on clinical assessment and KT-1000 instrumentation after revision surgery, the majority of patients thought the results were subjectively good or excellent. The study highlights the well-recognised technical failures of primary anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction and confirms good subjective results. The poor correlation between the physical examination (objective) and the patient's perception (subjective) of the revision surgery is discussed.