In skeletally immature patients with an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear and significant growth remaining, the risk of inducing a growth disturbance with early reconstruction must be balanced against the risk of further intra-articular damage by delaying treatment until closer to skeletal maturity.
Hypothesis: Increased time from injury to ACL reconstruction in children ≤14 years of age will be associated with increased meniscal and chondral injuries at the time of reconstruction.
Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3.
Young patients who underwent surgical reconstruction of an acute ACL tear >12 weeks after the injury were noted to have a significant increase in irreparable medial meniscal tears and lateral compartment chondral injuries at the time of reconstruction. When a subjective sense of knee instability was present, this association was even stronger.
Copyright remains with the authors and publisher.
In skeletally immature patients with an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear and significant growth remaining, the risk of inducing a growth disturbance with early reconstruction must be balanced against the risk of further intra-articular damage by delaying treatment until closer to skeletal maturity.
Hypothesis: Increased time from injury to ACL reconstruction in children ≤14 years of age will be associated with increased meniscal and chondral injuries at the time of reconstruction.
Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3.
Young patients who underwent surgical reconstruction of an acute ACL tear >12 weeks after the injury were noted to have a significant increase in irreparable medial meniscal tears and lateral compartment chondral injuries at the time of reconstruction. When a subjective sense of knee instability was present, this association was even stronger.
Copyright remains with the authors and publisher.