British Journal of Sports Medicine 2009;43:347-351
Original articles
Ten year follow-up study comparing conservative versus operative treatment of anterior cruciate ligament ruptures. A matched-pair analysis of high level athletes
Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam, Orthopaedic Department, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Dr D E Meuffels, Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam, Orthopaedic Department, PO Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, The Netherlands; d.meuffels{at}erasmusmc.nl
Objective: To compare long term outcome of highly active patients with anterior cruciate ligament ruptures treated operatively versus non-operatively.
Design: We reviewed high level athletes with an anterior cruciate ligament rupture on either MRI or arthroscopic evaluation more than 10 years previously, who were treated conservatively. They were pair-matched with patients who had had an anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction with bone-patella-tendon-bone, with respect to age, gender and Tegner activity score before injury.
Participants: In total 50 patients were pair-matched.
Results: We found no statistical difference between the patients treated conservatively or operatively with respect to osteoarthritis or meniscal lesions of the knee, as well as activity level, objective and subjective functional outcome. The patients who were treated operatively had a significantly better stability of the knee at examination.
Conclusion: We conclude that the instability repair using a bone-patella-tendon-bone anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction is a good knee stabilising operation. Both treatment options however show similar patient outcome at 10 year follow up.
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
