Incidence and Predictors of Subsequent Surgery following ACL Reconstruction: A 6-Year Cohort Follow-up Study

• Published in: Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine 2020-07, Vol.8 (7_suppl6)
• Main Authors: Huston, Laura, Zajichek, Alex, Spindler, Kurt, Sullivan, Jaron
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cartilage; Knee; Orthopedics; Patient satisfaction; Risk factors; Sports medicine; Surgery
• ISSN: 2325-9671; 2325-9671
• DOI: 10.1177/2325967120S00352

Objectives: Subsequent surgeries after ACL reconstruction are known to negatively affect patient satisfaction and outcomes. Previous studies have identified risk factors for subsequent operations after ACL reconstruction, but few studies have identified factors which increase the risk for subsequent specific procedures related to meniscus and articular cartilage.The purpose of this study was two-fold: 1) to report the incidence and types of subsequent surgeries which occur in a cohort of ACL reconstructed patients 6 years following their index ACL reconstruction; and, 2) to predict which variables (i.e. patient demographic and surgical) may influence the incidence of a patient having a subsequent meniscus or articular cartilage related surgery following their index ACL reconstruction. Methods: This was a multicenter longitudinal prospective cohort study design. Each participant completed a questionnaire that included baseline demographics, injury descriptors, sports participation level, comorbidities, knee surgical history, and validated patient-reported outcome measures, and were followed up at 2 and 6 years. In addition, patients were also contacted to determine whether any underwent additional surgical knee procedures since baseline. Operative reports were obtained and independently read by two orthopaedic surgeons, and all procedures were categorized and recorded, along with the surgical date. If multiple procedures were done during an operation, all were recorded. Two separate logistical regression models were constructed to predict which independent variables (i.e. patient demographic and surgical) potentially influenced the incidence of a patient having a subsequent surgery following their index ACL reconstruction: model #1 examined subsequent meniscus-related surgeries on the ipsilateral knee and model #2 examined subsequent articular cartilage-related surgeries. Results: The cohort consisted of 3,276 subjects (56% male) with a median age of 23 years at the time of enrollment. Primary ACL reconstructions comprised 93% of the group, while 7% were enrolled as revision ACL reconstructions. The majority of subjects underwent bone-patellar tendon-bone (BTB) autograft reconstructions (43%), while 34% underwent hamstring autograft and 23% had allograft reconstructions. We obtained 92% (2999/3276) follow-up with regards to information on incidence and frequency of subsequent surgeries on the cohort. The remaining 8% (277/3276) were lost to follow-up. Overa