[Concomitant injuries with anterior cruciate ligament rupture. A retrospective study]

We identified 107 consecutive patients with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture who underwent arthroscopy after trauma. The results of the preoperative clinical examination and the arthroscopic findings of associated injuries to the knee are shown. Some 55% of the acute ACL ruptures involved a tear of the lateral meniscus, 45% of the medial meniscus, and 34% had a lesion of the medial collateral ligament. The most frequent combination of injuries with ACL rupture was a tear in both menisci and a lesion of the medial collateral ligament with a tear in the lateral meniscus. The preoperative examination revealed the ACL rupture in 94% of uses but the lateral meniscal lesion in only 32%. At the time of operation 29% of all associated injuries had not been discovered. These results show that--independent of the time of reconstruction of the thorn ACL--acute rupture of the ACL is an indication for arthroscopy.