2009 Annual Meeting Podium Presentations

Sports Medicine/Arthroscopy 1: Primary ACL

ACL Reconstruction in Patients 40 Years of Age and Older: 20 Year Follow-up

Podium No: 011

Wednesday, February 25, 2009
09:18 AM - 09:24 AM

Location: Venetian Hotel
Room 2201

Karen K Briggs, MPH Vail CO
J Richard Steadman, MD Vail CO
Tiffany Tello

Moderator(s):
Joseph A Bosco, III MD New York NY
Diane Lynn Dahm, MD Rochester MN

This study shows that, with proper patient selection, older patients over 40 can continue to have long term excellent function and high activity levels following ACL reconstruction.

We previously reported on a group of patients who were over 40 years of age and underwent an ACL reconstruction between 1984 and 1992. The purpose of this study was to evaluate these same patients 15 years later.

All patients had undergone a bone-patellar ligament-bone intra-articular reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament between 1984 and 1992. All patients were sent a questionnaire which included the WOMAC score, Lysholm score, the Tegner activity scale, and patient satisfaction. Patient satisfaction was measured on a 1 to 10 scale with 10 being very satisfied.

Five patients required total knee arthroplasty(8%) at an average of 17 years following their ACL reconstructions. Average follow-up was 20 years (range, 16 to 22 years). The average age at follow-up was 63 years (range, 59 to 75). Twenty-five percent of the patient had undergone at least one additional arthroscopy. The average Lysholm score was 88 (range, 65 to 100). The average WOMAC score was 7.3(range 0 to 51). The average Tegner activity scale was 4.6 (range, 2 to 8). The average patient satisfaction was 9.5 (range, 6 to 10).

Patients 15 years after ACL had low WOMAC scores, high Lysholm scores and a high Tegner activity level for their age group. No patients had disability due to their knee. This study shows that, with proper patient selection, older patients over 40 can continue to have long term excellent function and high activity levels following ACL reconstruction.

A ^· to the left of the title indicates the FDA has not cleared the drug or device for the described purpose.

An alphabetical listing of disclosures will be available at a later time.

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