Anterior Cruciate Ligament Surgery Performed Less Than 3 Weeks After Injury Is Not Inferior to Delayed Surgery.

Performing anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) surgery in the immediate period after injury is controversial. However, there may be instances where the opportunity cost of delayed surgery for the patient may be unacceptable. Concomitant meniscus injuries may also prevent the patient from regaining range of motion in the preoperative period. Every week that surgery is delayed may increase pain and impair mobility for this group of patients. We investigate the functional and clinical outcomes in patients with ACL surgery in the immediate 3-week period following ACL injury. A cohort study was performed to compare the outcome of early ACL (less than 3 weeks after injury) and late ACL surgery (more than 3 weeks after surgery). A total of 58 patients were followed up at fixed time points over a 2-year period. Clinical measurements (range of motion and knee laxity scores) and functional outcome scores (International Knee Documentation Committee, Lysholm's Knee and Tegner's scores) were used to document outcomes over time. The mean time to surgery from the time of injury in the early ACL surgery group was 2 weeks (standard deviation [SD] = 0.45) and the 20 weeks (SD = 9.64) in the late ACL surgery group. The absence or presence of meniscal injuries had no significant effect on the improvement over time for both groups of patients (

Informations de copyright

Thieme. All rights reserved.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

None declared.