Increased incidence of anterior cruciate ligament revision surgery in paediatric verses adult population

Purpose

To evaluate the anterior cruciate ligament graft failure rate in a population of 1376 patients submitted to single-bundle anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction procedure. It was hypothesized that the younger the patient, the greater the chance of a new anterior cruciate ligament graft ligament injury.

Methods

A retrospective chart review was performed on patients who had SB anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction between the years, 2001 and 2016, with a minimum post-operative follow-up period of 6 months. The patient population was divided into three groups, according to age: group 1—under 16 years old; group 2—between 16 and 18 years old; and group 3—older than 18 years old. Data collected included sex, laterality and graft choice data.

Results

In group 1 (under 16 years old), there were 61 primary ACL surgeries performed and 15 (24.6%) revision ACL surgeries. In group 2 (between 16 and 18 years old), there was 57 primary ACL procedures, of which 10 (17.5%) were revisions. In the group 3 (older than 18 years of age), 1258 surgeries were done with 116 (9.2%) revisions.

Conclusion

The rate of ACL revision surgery in patients under 16 years of age was significantly higher than that found in patients older than 18 years old. When compared to the population between 16 and 18 years old, there were a higher number of failure cases, however, statistically non-significant.

Level of evidence

IV.