Reconstruction procedures for anterior cruciate ligament insufficiency: a computer analysis of clinical results

A pre- and postoperative study of 205 patients who had surgical reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) of the knee was evaluated with the use of a prototype computer program. An average followup of 4.1 years revealed a 27% improvement in subjective complaints and a 8% improvement in objective findings. The anterior drawer test was improved 25% and subluxation of the lateral tibial plateau (ALRI) was improved 118% correlating highly (P less than 0.001) with a good result. Seventy-four percent of patients had undergone medial meniscectomy, 58% lateral meniscectomy, and 41% had both menisci removed at followup after reconstruction. Ninety-two percent of the 121 patients responding to a final subjective complaint evaluation felt that their knee was significantly improved (average 6.1 years after reconstruction). The computer demonstrated a wide variation in the results of reconstruction within the intraarticular, extraarticular, and combined groups. The addition of associated procedures to the main reconstructive procedure significantly affected the results. This study reveals improvement of subjective complaints and objective findings after reconstructing the anterior cruciate ligament and proposes the use of computer analysis for specific evaluation of different procedures.