A Sixteen-Year Follow-up of Three Operative Techniques for the Treatment of Acute Ruptures of the Anterior Cruciate Ligament

Abstract

At long-term (sixteen-year) follow-up, the rate of revision anterior cruciate ligament surgery is much higher following primary repair than after primary repair augmented by a bone-patellar tendon-bone graft. It can be expected that approximately 10% of patients undergoing anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction acutely will have osteoarthritis develop in the reconstructed knee. We no longer perform any of these surgical techniques as open procedures.