Risks of Delaying ACL Reconstruction in Young Athletes May Be Too High, Study Shows

Risks of Delaying ACL Reconstruction in Young Athletes May Be Too High, Study
Shows

KEYSTONE, Colo., July 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- More and more children are
participating and getting hurt playing sports each year. A new study presented
at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's (AOSSM) Annual
Meeting in Keystone, Colorado, (July 9-12) details the benefits and risks of
repairing a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in young athletes under the
age of 14.

"The risk of inducing a growth disturbance with early reconstruction of a torn
ACL must be balanced against the risk of further knee damage by delaying
treatment until closer to skeletal maturity. Our study measured the
independent risk factors for and relative risk of meniscal and chondral
injuries in pediatric ACL patients," said author, Theodore J. Ganley, MD,
Director of the Sports Medicine and Performance Center for The Children's
Hospital of Pennsylvania and the University of Pennsylvania School of
Medicine.

Researchers analyzed the records of 69 patients, 14 years of age and younger
who had undergone ACL reconstruction between 1991 and 2005. Data collected
included demographics, relevant history (mechanism and side of injury, time
from injury to surgery, one or more episodes of instability with activity, use
of brace and return to sports), earliest MRI findings and physical exam
findings. Operative reports and intra-operative images were also used to
classify meniscal and articular cartilage pathology.

All of the patients were counseled as to the benefits and risks of delaying
ACL reconstruction and advised to avoid any at-risk activities along with
participating in physical therapy prior to their reconstruction. If the
decision was made to delay treatment, patients were instructed to wear a
custom ACL brace. All patients who underwent the surgery utilized a soft
tissue graft with anatomically placed tunnels and fixation devices that did
not cross the growth plate. Patients were also followed for a minimum of
one-year post-operatively with no growth disturbances being noted.

"In our study, the largest of skeletally immature patients to evaluate
independent risk factors, a delay in treatment of more than 12 weeks had about
a four-fold increase in irreparable medial meniscus tears, an
11-fold increase in lateral compartment chondral injuries and a three-fold
increase in patellotrochlear injuries. Issues with instability in the knee
were also increased significantly. Our results highlight and help quantify the
risk associated with delaying ACL reconstruction in young athletes and the
need for continued injury prevention efforts," said Ganley.

The American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM) is a world leader
in sports medicine education, research, communication and fellowship, and
includes national and international orthopaedic sports medicine leaders. The
Society works closely with many other sports medicine specialists, including
athletic trainers, physical therapists, family physicians, and others to
improve the identification, prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of
sports injuries.

Additional information and press releases can be viewed in the newsroom on
AOSSM's Web site at www.sportsmed.org

SOURCE American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine

Lisa Weisenberger, Director of Communications of AOSSM, +1-847-292-4900,
lisa@aossm.org