Background:
Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reinjury results in worse outcomes and increases the risk of posttraumatic osteoarthritis.
Purpose:
To identify the risk factors for both ipsilateral and ...contralateral ACL tears after primary ACL reconstruction (ACLR).
Study Design:
Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3.
Methods:
Data from the Multicenter Orthopaedic Outcomes Network (MOON), a prospective longitudinal cohort, were used to identify risk factors for ACL retear. Subjects with primary ACLR, no history of contralateral knee surgery, and a minimum of 2-year follow-up data were included. Age, sex, Marx activity score, graft type, lateral meniscal tear, medial meniscal tear, sport played at index injury, and surgical facility were evaluated to determine their contribution to both ipsilateral retear and contralateral ACL tear.
Results:
A total of 2683 subjects with average age of 27 ± 11 years (1498 men; 56%) met all study inclusion/exclusion criteria. Overall there were 4.4% ipsilateral graft tears and 3.5% contralateral ACL tears. The odds of ipsilateral ACL retear were 5.2 times greater for an allograft (P < .01) compared with a bone–patellar tendon–bone (BTB) autograft; the odds of retear were not significantly different between BTB autograft and hamstring autograft (P = .12). The odds of an ipsilateral ACL retear decreased by 0.09 for every yearly increase in age (P < .01) and increased by 0.11 for every increased point on the Marx score (P < .01). These odds were not significantly influenced by sex, smoking status, sport played, medial or lateral meniscal tear, or consortium site (P > .05). The odds of a contralateral ACL tear decreased by 0.04 for every yearly increase in age (P = .04) and increased by 0.12 for every increased point on the Marx score (P < .01); these odds were not significantly different between sex, smoking status, sport played, graft type, medial meniscal tear, or lateral meniscal tear (P > .05).
Conclusion:
Younger age, higher activity level, and allograft graft type were predictors of increased odds of ipsilateral graft failure. Higher activity and younger age were found to be risk factors in contralateral ACL tears.
Abstract
Background
The integration of Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) into clinical care presents many challenges for health systems. PROMs provide quantitative data regarding ...patient-reported health status. However, the most effective model for collecting PROMs has not been established. Therefore the purpose of this study is to report the development and preliminary evaluation of the standardized collection of PROMs within a department of orthopedic surgery at a large academic health center.
Methods
We utilized the
Users’ Guide to Integrating Patient
-
Reported Outcomes in Electronic Health Records
by Gensheimer et al., 2018 as a framework to describe the development of PROMs collection initiative. We framed our initiative by operationalizing the three aspects of PROM collection development: Planning, Selection, and Engagement. Next, we performed a preliminary evaluation of our initiative by assessing the response rate of patients completing PROMs (no. of PROMs completed/no. of PROMs administered) across the entire department (18 clinics), ambulatory clinics only (14 clinics), and hospital-based clinics only (4 clinics). Lastly, we reported on the mean response rates for the top 5 and bottom 5 orthopaedic providers to describe the variability across providers.
Results
We described the development of a fully-integrated, population health based implementation strategy leveraging the existing resources of our local EHR to maximize clinical utility of PROMs and routine collection. We collected a large volume of PROMs over a 13 month period (
n
= 10,951) across 18 clinical sites, 7 clinical specialties and over 100 providers. The response rates varied across the department, ranging from 29 to 42%, depending on active status for the portal to the electronic health record (MyChart). The highest single provider mean response rate was 52%, and the lowest provider rate was 13%. Rates were similar between hospital-based (26%) and ambulatory clinics (29%).
Conclusions
We found that our standardized PROMs collection initiative, informed by Gensheimer et al., achieved scope and scale, but faced challenges in achieving a high response rate commensurate with existing literature. However, most studies reported a targeted recruitment strategy within a narrow clinical population. Further research is needed to elucidate the trade-off between scalability and response rates in PROM collection initiatives.
Background:
Subsequent surgeries have a profound effect on patient satisfaction and outcome after primary anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR). There have been no prospective studies to ...date describing the rate and predictors (surgical and patient variables) of all subsequent knee surgeries at short-term and midterm follow-up along with analyses of surgical and patient variables that are associated with subsequent surgeries.
Purpose:
To report the rate and predictors of all subsequent surgeries at short-term and midterm follow-up along with associated patient variables.
Study Design:
Case-control study; Level of evidence, 3.
Methods:
A total of 980 patients (540 male) were prospectively enrolled in a Multicenter Orthopaedic Outcomes Network (MOON) cohort from January 2002 to December 2003. The 2- and 6-year follow-up information for subsequent procedures was obtained. Operative reports were obtained, and all procedures were categorized.
Results:
One hundred eighty-five patients underwent a subsequent surgery on the ipsilateral leg (18.9%) and 100 on the contralateral knee (10.2%) at 6-year follow-up. On the ipsilateral knee, there was a 7.7% rate of ACL revisions, a 13.3% rate of cartilage procedures, a 5.4% rate of arthrofibrosis procedures, and a 2.4% rate of procedures related to hardware. For the contralateral knee, there was a 6.4% rate of primary ACL ruptures. Younger age at the index surgery and the use of allografts were predictors (risk factors) for subsequent surgery. Revision ACLR, female sex, body mass index, and surgical exposure were not significant predictors.
Conclusion:
At 6-year follow-up, 18.9% of patients who had undergone ACLR underwent subsequent surgeries on the ipsilateral knee. The rates between an ipsilateral ACLR graft versus a contralateral normal ACL tear were similar (7.7% vs 6.4%, respectively). Younger age and the use of allografts were risk factors for subsequent surgery.
Background:
Knee laxity in the setting of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is often assessed through physical examination using the Lachman, pivot shift, and anterior drawer tests. The degree ...of laxity noted on these examinations may influence treatment decisions and prognosis.
Hypothesis:
Increased preoperative knee laxity is associated with increased risk of revision ACL reconstruction, increased risk of contralateral ACL reconstruction, and poorer patient-reported outcomes at 6 years postoperatively.
Study Design:
Cohort study; Level of evidence, 2.
Methods:
2333 patients who underwent primary isolated ACL reconstruction without additional ligament injury were identified. Patients reported by the operating surgeons to have an International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) grade D Lachman, anterior drawer, or pivot shift examination were classified as having a high-grade laxity. Multiple logistic regression models were used to evaluate whether having high-grade preoperative laxity was predictive of increased odds of undergoing subsequent revision or contralateral ACL reconstruction within 6 years of the index procedure, controlling for patient age, sex, body mass index, Marx activity level, sport, graft type, medial meniscal treatment, and lateral meniscal treatment. Multiple linear regression modeling was used to evaluate whether having high-grade preoperative laxity was predictive of poorer IKDC or Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score Knee-Related Quality of Life (KOOS-QOL) scores at 6 years postoperatively, after controlling for baseline score, patient age, ethnicity, sex, body mass index, marital status, smoking status, sport participation, competition level, Marx activity rating score, graft type, and articular cartilage and meniscal status.
Results:
In total, 743 of 2325 patients (32.0%) were noted to have high-grade laxity on at least 1 physical examination test. High-grade Lachman was noted in 334 patients (14.4%), high-grade pivot shift was noted in 617 patients (26.5%), and high-grade anterior drawer was noted in 233 patients (10.0%). Six-year revision and contralateral ACL reconstruction data were available for 2129 patients (91.6%). High-grade prereconstruction Lachman was associated with significantly increased odds of ACL graft revision (odds ratio OR, 1.76; 95% CI, 1.10-2.80, P = .02) and contralateral ACL reconstruction (OR, 1.68; 95% CI, 1.09-2.69; P = .019). High-grade prereconstruction pivot shift was associated with significantly increased odds of ACL graft revision (OR, 1.75; 95% CI, 1.19-2.54, P = .002) but not with significantly increased odds of contralateral ACL reconstruction (OR, 1.30; 95% CI, 0.89-1.87; P = .16). High-grade prereconstruction laxity was associated with statistically significantly lower 6-year IKDC (β = −2.26, P = .003), KOOS-QOL (β = −2.67, P = .015), and Marx activity scores (β = −0.54, P = .020), but these differences did not approach clinically relevant differences in patient-reported outcomes.
Conclusion:
High-grade preoperative knee laxity is predictive of increased odds of revision ACL reconstruction and contralateral ACL reconstruction 6 years after ACL reconstruction. Poorer patient-reported outcome scores in the high-grade laxity group were also noted, but the difference did not reach a level of clinical relevance.
Purpose To determine which patient and injury factors are associated with the detection of high-grade laxity on examination under anesthesia before anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. ...Methods We identified 2,318 patients who underwent primary ACL reconstruction without associated ligament injuries. Demographic data and information regarding meniscal tears were collected. Patients with high-grade Lachman (difference from contralateral side >10 mm), pivot-shift (International Knee Documentation Committee grade 3+), or anterior drawer (difference from contralateral side >10 mm) tests were identified by physical examination under anesthesia before ACL reconstruction. Logistic regression modeling was used to evaluate whether chronicity of the ACL injury, patient age, sex, body mass index, generalized ligamentous laxity, and presence of meniscal tears were associated with increased odds of high-grade laxity, while we controlled for examining surgeon. Results Patients with chronic tears (>6 months from injury) had greater than twice the odds of having high-grade Lachman, pivot-shift, and anterior drawer tests (all P < .001) relative to patients with acute tears (<3 months from injury). Generalized ligamentous laxity (odds ratio OR, 2.33; P < .001) and the presence of medial (OR, 1.63; P < .001) or lateral (OR, 1.41; P = .013) meniscus tears were associated with increased odds of a high-grade Lachman test. Age younger than 20 years (OR, 1.34; P = .023), female sex (OR, 1.49; P = .001), generalized ligamentous laxity (OR, 3.46; P < .001), and the presence of a medial (OR, 1.53; P < .001) or lateral (OR, 1.27; P = .041) meniscus tear were associated with increased odds of a high-grade pivot-shift test. Generalized ligamentous laxity (OR, 2.27; P < .001) and the presence of a medial (OR, 1.73; P = .001) or lateral (OR, 1.50; P = .010) meniscus tear were associated with increased odds of a high-grade anterior drawer test. Conclusions Chronic ACL tears, generalized ligamentous laxity, and meniscus tears are associated with increased odds of high-grade laxity with all 3 tests. Female patients and age younger than 20 years are associated with increased odds of a high-grade pivot-shift test. Level of Evidence Level II, lesser-quality prospective study.
Background:
Identifying risk factors for inferior outcomes after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) is important for prognosis and future treatment.
Hypothesis:
Articular cartilage ...lesions and meniscus tears/treatment would predict International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) score, Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) (all 5 subscales), and Marx activity level at 6 years after ACLR.
Study Design:
Cohort study (prognosis); Level of evidence, 1.
Methods:
Between 2002 and 2004, a total of 1512 ACLR patients were prospectively enrolled and followed longitudinally, with the IKDC, KOOS, and Marx activity score completed at entry, 2 years, and 6 years. A logistic regression model was built incorporating variables from patient demographics, surgical technique, articular cartilage injuries, and meniscus tears/treatment to determine the predictors (risk factors) of IKDC and KOOS scores and Marx activity level at 6 years.
Results:
A minimum follow-up on 86% (1307/1512) of the cohort was completed at 6 years. The cohort was 56% male and had a median age of 23 years at the time of enrollment, with 76% reporting a noncontact injury mechanism. Incidence of concomitant injury at the time of surgery consisted of the following: articular cartilage (medial femoral condyle MFC, 25%; lateral femoral condyle LFC 20%; medial tibial plateau MTP, 6%; lateral tibial plateau LTP, 12%; patella, 20%; trochlear, 9%) and meniscus (medial, 38%; lateral, 46%). Both articular cartilage lesions and meniscus tears were significant predictors of 6-year outcomes on the IKDC and KOOS. Grade 3 or 4 articular cartilage lesions (excluding patella) significantly reduced IKDC and KOOS scores at 6 years. The IKDC demonstrated worse outcomes with the presence of a grade 3 or 4 chondral lesion on the MFC, MTP, and LFC. Likewise, the KOOS score was negatively affected by cartilage injury. The sole significant predictor of reduced Marx activity level was the presence of a grade 4 lesion on the MFC. Lateral meniscus repairs did not correlate with inferior results, but medial meniscus repairs predicted worse IKDC and KOOS scores. Lateral meniscus tears left alone significantly improved prognosis. Small partial meniscectomies (<33%) on the medial meniscus fared worse; conversely, larger excisions (>50%) on either the medial or lateral menisci improved prognosis. Analogous to previous studies, other significant predictors of lower outcome scores were lower baseline scores, higher body mass index, lower education level, smoking, and anterior cruciate ligament revisions.
Conclusion:
Both articular cartilage injury and meniscus tears/treatment at the time of ACLR were significant predictors of IKDC and KOOS scores 6 years after ACLR. Similarly, having a grade 4 MFC lesion significantly reduced a patient’s Marx activity level score at 6 years.
In 2017, the American Orthopaedic Association advocated for the increased use of telehealth as an assessment and treatment platform, and demand has significantly increased during the coronavirus ...disease 2019 pandemic. Diagnostic effectiveness (also called overall diagnostic accuracy) and reliability of a telehealth clinical examination vs. a traditional shoulder clinical examination (SCE) has not been established. Our objective is to compare the diagnostic effectiveness of a telehealth shoulder examination against an SCE for rotator cuff tear (RCT), using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as a reference standard; secondary objectives included assessing agreement between test platforms and validity of individualized tests. We hypothesize that tests provided in a telehealth platform would not have inferior diagnostic effectiveness to an SCE.
The study is a case-based, case-control design. Two clinicians selected movement, strength, and special tests for the SCE that are associated with the diagnosis of RCT and identified similar tests to replicate for a simulated telehealth-based examination (STE). Consecutive patients with no prior shoulder surgery or advanced imaging underwent both the SCE and STE in the same visit using 2 separate assessors. We randomized the order of the SCE or STE. A blinded reader assessed an MRI, to be used as a reference standard. We calculated diagnostic effectiveness, which provides values from 0% to 100% as well as agreement statistics (Kappa) between tests by an assessment platform, and sensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratios for individual tests in both SCE and STE. We compared the diagnostic effectiveness (overall) of the SCE and STE with a Mann-Whitney U test.
We included 62 consecutive patients with shoulder pain, aged 40 or older; 50 (81%) received an MRI as a reference standard. The diagnostic effectiveness of stand-alone tests was poor regardless of the group, with the exception of a few tests with high specificity. None had greater than 70% accuracy. There was no significant difference between the overall diagnostic effectiveness of the STE and SCE (P = .98). Overall agreement between the STE tests and the SCE tests ranged from poor to moderate (Kappa, 0.07-0.87).
This study identified initial feasibility and noninferiority of the physician-guided, patient-performed STE when compared with an SCE in the detection of RCTs. Although these results are promising, larger studies are needed for further validation of an STE assessment platform.
Whether arthroscopic partial meniscectomy for symptomatic patients with a meniscal tear and knee osteoarthritis results in better functional outcomes than nonoperative therapy is uncertain.
We ...conducted a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial involving symptomatic patients 45 years of age or older with a meniscal tear and evidence of mild-to-moderate osteoarthritis on imaging. We randomly assigned 351 patients to surgery and postoperative physical therapy or to a standardized physical-therapy regimen (with the option to cross over to surgery at the discretion of the patient and surgeon). The patients were evaluated at 6 and 12 months. The primary outcome was the difference between the groups with respect to the change in the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) physical-function score (ranging from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more severe symptoms) 6 months after randomization.
In the intention-to-treat analysis, the mean improvement in the WOMAC score after 6 months was 20.9 points (95% confidence interval CI, 17.9 to 23.9) in the surgical group and 18.5 (95% CI, 15.6 to 21.5) in the physical-therapy group (mean difference, 2.4 points; 95% CI, -1.8 to 6.5). At 6 months, 51 active participants in the study who were assigned to physical therapy alone (30%) had undergone surgery, and 9 patients assigned to surgery (6%) had not undergone surgery. The results at 12 months were similar to those at 6 months. The frequency of adverse events did not differ significantly between the groups.
In the intention-to-treat analysis, we did not find significant differences between the study groups in functional improvement 6 months after randomization; however, 30% of the patients who were assigned to physical therapy alone underwent surgery within 6 months. (Funded by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases; METEOR ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00597012.).
Background:
There is a relative paucity of data regarding the effect of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction on the ability of American high school and collegiate football players to ...return to play at the same level of competition as before their injury or to progress to play at the next level of competition.
Purpose:
(1) To identify the percentage of high school and collegiate American football players who successfully returned to play at their previous level of competition, (2) to investigate self-reported performance for those players able to return to play or reason(s) for not returning to play, and (3) to elucidate risk factors responsible for players not being able to return to play or not returning to the same level of performance.
Study Design:
Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3.
Methods:
This study was a retrospective analysis of prospective patients taken from the Multicenter Orthopaedic Outcomes Network (MOON) cohort who identified football as their primary or secondary sport. Identified patients were then questioned in a structured interview regarding their ACL injury, participation in football before their injury, and factors associated with returning to play. Data were analyzed for player position, concurrent meniscal/ligamentous/chondral injury, surgical technique and graft used for ACL reconstruction, and issues pertaining to timing and ability to return to play.
Results:
One hundred forty-seven players (including 68 high school and 26 collegiate) met our criteria and were contacted from the 2002 and 2003 MOON cohorts. Return to play rates for all high school and collegiate athletes were similar (63% and 69%, respectively). Based on player perception, 43% of the players were able to return to play at the same self-described performance level. Approximately 27% felt they did not perform at a level attained before their ACL tear, and 30% were unable to return to play at all. Although two thirds of players reported some “other interest” contributing to their decision not to return, at both levels of competition, fear of reinjury or further damage was cited by approximately 50% of the players who did not return to play. Analysis of patient-reported outcome scores at a minimum of 2 years after surgery between patients who returned to play and those who did not demonstrated clinically and statistically significant differences in the International Knee Documentation Committee form, Marx Activity Scale, and Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score knee-related quality of life subscale in the collegiate players. Similar clinical differences were not statistically significant in the high school students. Player position did not have a statistically significant effect on the ability to return to play for high school players, and 41% of “skilled” position players and 50% of “nonskilled” position players were able to return to play at the same performance level.
Conclusion:
Return to play percentages for amateur American football players after ACL reconstruction are not as high as would be expected. While technical aspects of ACL reconstruction and the ensuing rehabilitation have been studied extensively, the psychological factors (primarily a fear of reinjury) influencing the ability to return to play after ACL surgery may be underestimated as a critical factor responsible for athletes not returning to play at any level of competition.
Background:
It is increasingly recognized that biochemical abnormalities of the joint precede radiographic abnormalities of posttraumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA) by as much as decades. A growing body ...of evidence strongly suggests that the progression from anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury to PTOA is multifactorial, involving the interplay between biomechanical disturbances and biochemical homeostasis of articular cartilage.
Purpose:
The purposes of this randomized study using an acute ACL injury model were to (1) evaluate the natural progression of inflammatory and chondrodegenerative biomarkers, (2) evaluate the relationship between subjective reports of pain and inflammatory and chondrodegenerative biomarkers, and (3) determine if postinjury arthrocentesis and corticosteroid injection offer the ability to alter this biochemical cascade.
Study Design:
Randomized controlled trial; Level of evidence, 2.
Methods:
A total of 49 patients were randomized to 4 groups: group 1 (corticosteroid at 4 days after ACL injury, placebo injection of saline at 2 weeks), group 2 (placebo at 4 days after ACL injury, corticosteroid at 2 weeks), group 3 (corticosteroid at both time intervals), or a placebo group (saline injections at both time intervals). Patient-reported outcome measures and synovial biomarkers were collected at approximately 4 days, 11 days, and 5 weeks after injury. The change between the time points was assessed for all variables using Wilcoxon tests, and the relationship between changes in outcome scores and biomarkers were assessed by calculating Spearman ρ. Outcomes and biomarkers were also compared between the 4 groups using Kruskal-Wallis tests.
Results:
No adverse events or infections were observed in any study patients. With the exception of matrix metalloproteinase 1 (MMP-1) and tumor necrosis factor–inducible gene 6 (TSG-6), chondrodegenerative markers worsened over the first 5 weeks while all patient-reported outcomes improved during this time, regardless of treatment group. Patient-reported outcomes did not differ between patients receiving corticosteroid injections and the placebo group. However, increases in C-telopeptide of type II collagen (CTX-II), associated with collagen type II breakdown, were significantly greater in the placebo group (1.32 ± 1.10 ng/mL) than in either of the groups that received the corticosteroid injection within the first several days after injury (group 1: 0.23 ± 0.27 ng/mL P = .01; group 3: 0.19 ± 0.34 ng/mL P = .01).
Conclusion:
PTOA begins at the time of injury and results early on in dramatic matrix changes in the knee. However, it is encouraging that early intervention with an anti-inflammatory agent was able to affect biomarkers of chondral degeneration. Should early intervention lead to meaningful changes in either the onset or severity of symptomatic PTOA, the current treatment paradigm for patients with ACL injury may have to be restructured to include early aspiration and intra-articular intervention.
Trial Registration:
ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01692756.
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