Trends in Revision ACL Reconstruction: Analysis of 257 Procedures

Abstract

Background. Despite the anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACL-R) is considered to be routine and successful procedure the burden of patients who needs revision surgery is growing worldwide. Purpose to describe the gender and social-demographic characteristics of this cohort of patients, analyze the reasons leading to revision ACL-R (re-ACL-R), estimate survival-ship of primary procedure as well as highlight clinically relative aspects of revision surgery. Methods. The database of Vreden Orthopaedic Center for the period from 01.01.2011 to 31.12.2021 searched for patients admitted for re-ACL-R. 234 patients (257 knees) agreed to take part in the study. Patient records with surgery reports, clinical exams and PROMs were analyzed. Results. There was a tendency to annual increase of re-ACL-R while the time between primary and revision procedures was just 4.0 years in average. Young males dominated among re-ACL-R cohort (75.2%, 31.0 years). The acute trauma prevailed over other reasons of ACL-R failure however, it was absent in 39.1% of cases. Patients who injured performing sports were significantly younger than the rest of the cohort (p = 0.005). Allografts were the most popular choice both for first re-ACL-R (53.0%) and re-revision ACL-R (60.9%). Interestingly that majority of re-ACL-R were performed in one stage while two-staged approach implemented only in 4.3% of cases. Conclusion. The main cause for re-ACL-R is repeated injury but significant percentage of patients develops recurrence of instability without trauma in middle-term period after ACL-R. Therefore to reduce the numbers of re-ACL-R both the proper post-op sport injury prevention program and improvement of surgical technique are of the same importance.