Purpose
The purpose of the study was to analyze the baseline variables and clinical outcomes
for almost 24,000 patients entered into the Swedish National ACL Register between
January 2005 and December 2012.
Methods
The register consists of 2 parts: 1 section in which surgeons report baseline and
surgical data and 1 section in which patients report the Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis
Outcome Score (KOOS) and the EQ-5D score before and 1, 2, and 5 years after surgery.
Results
By December 2012, 23,744 patients had been entered into the surgeons’ part of the
register. The female-male ratio in the register is 42:58. The mean age at primary
anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction was 26 years (SD, 11 years) and 28
years (SD, 9 years) for the female and male patients, respectively. The ACL injury
occurred during soccer in 36% of the female patients and 49% of the male patients.
In 2012, 95% of the primary ACL reconstructions were performed using hamstring tendon
autografts. For patients who had a minimum of 5 years’ follow-up, the revision rate
was 3.3% and the contralateral reconstruction rate was 3.8%. On all follow-up occasions
up to 5 years, patients who had undergone revision had a significantly (P < .001) poorer outcome than those who had undergone primary unilateral ACL reconstructions
in all KOOS and EQ-5D dimensions. On all follow-up occasions, smokers obtained significantly
poorer scores than nonsmokers in terms of both the KOOS (P < .008) and the EQ-5D (P < .024).
Conclusions
Soccer is the most common cause of injury in both female and male patients, and patients
undergoing revisions fare less well than those undergoing primary unilateral ACL reconstructions,
as well as bilateral reconstructions. Furthermore, smokers fare less well than nonsmokers.
The cumulative risk of an ACL revision or contralateral ACL reconstruction during
a 5-year period is approximately 7%. For patients aged younger than 19 years, the
cumulative risk is significantly higher.
Level of Evidence
Level II, retrospective prognostic study.
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 17, 2014
Accepted:
February 26,
2014
Received:
September 2,
2013
Footnotes
The authors report the following potential conflict of interest or source of funding: J. Kartus receives support from Linvatec Sweden for lectures.
Identification
Copyright
© 2014 Arthroscopy Association of North America. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
