The Long-Term Outcome After Early and Late Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction

To compare long-term clinical and radiographic outcomes in patients undergoing either early (group A) or late (group B) surgery after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury.

ACL reconstruction using hamstring tendon autografts was performed in 30 patients in group A (median age, 23 years; range, 17-49 years) and 31 patients in group B (median age, 27 years; range, 17-38 years). The patients in group A were operated on within 5 months (median, 3 months; range, 2-5 months) of injury, whereas those in group B were operated on more than 24 months (median, 30 months; range, 24-48 months) after injury. The follow-up period was 10 years (median, 117 months [range, 77-222 months] in group A and 129 months [range, 77-206 months] in group B; P = .44). Multiple objective clinical evaluation tests and patient-reported outcome measures were obtained preoperatively and at follow-up. At follow-up, radiographic assessments of knee osteoarthritis (OA) bilaterally were performed.

The frequency of meniscectomy at the index operation was significantly lower in group A (20%) than in group B (52%) (P = .01). There were no significant differences between the groups in terms of Tegner and Lysholm scores and laxity tests both preoperatively and at follow-up. Both groups improved over time in terms of Tegner and Lysholm scores (P < .05). At follow-up, significantly more medial-compartment OA in the index knee was found in group B than in group A (P = .037) according to the Ahlbäck classification system. The index knee showed significantly more OA than the contralateral knee in both groups (P < .01).

Patients who underwent early ACL reconstruction required significantly fewer meniscectomies at the index operation than patients who underwent late reconstruction and showed significantly less OA on the medial side of the knee 10 years after reconstruction. However, no significant differences were found between the groups in terms of clinical assessments.

Level III, retrospective comparative study.