Delay of Timing of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction Is Associated With Lower Risk of Arthrofibrosis Requiring Intervention

Author Type(s)

Student

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-2023

DOI

10.1016/j.arthro.2023.01.102

Journal Title

Arthroscopy

Abstract

PURPOSE: To conduct 2 separate stratum-specific likelihood ratio analyses in patients younger than 40 year of age (<40 >years) and those aged 40 and older (40+ years) at time of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction to define data-driven strata between ACL tear and primary isolated ACL reconstruction in which the risk of arthrofibrosis, using manipulation under anesthesia and arthroscopic lysis of adhesions as surrogates, is significantly different.

METHODS: A retrospective cohort analysis was conducted using the PearlDiver Database. Patients who underwent ACL reconstruction were identified using the Current Procedure Terminology code 29888. Patients were stratified to those aged younger than 40 (

RESULTS: For those

CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis showed a delay in ACLR of at least 6 weeks in patients younger than 40 years to be associated with a 65% reduction in the risk of surgical intervention for arthrofibrosis and a delay of at least 10 weeks in patients 40 years and older to be associated with only a 35% reduction in the risk of surgical intervention for arthrofibrosis. The authors propose this difference in reduction to be multifactorial and potentially associated with mechanism of injury, activity level, and preoperative factors such as amount of physical therapy, rather than solely timing.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level III, retrospective comparative prognostic study.

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