This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

Lack of ACL scoring system use among surgeons raises transparency questions

Add topic to email alerts

Receive an email when new articles are posted on

Please provide your email address to receive an email when new articles are posted on .

Subscribe

Added to email alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

Back to Healio

We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com.

Back to Healio

DUBLIN – More than half of surgeons do not use a scoring system when assessing their performance during ACL repair procedures, according a presentation by M. Ibrahim at the British Orthopaedic Association and the Irish Orthopaedic Association Combined Meeting 2011, here.

“These scoring systems [are] really easy to use during the normal … follow-up by giving the questionnaire to the patients or ask them to assess the functional outcome in the activity. I think it’s a call for everybody to use these systems,” Ibrahim said.

Ibrahim and his team analyzed the way 134 doctors in the United Kingdom scored their ACL reconstruction procedures by asking them to complete a written questionnaire. ACL injuries are categorized using more than 50 different scoring systems, and the study sought to answer which system, if any, doctors were using. In addition, surgeons are under increasing pressure for open transparent assessment of their performance, the authors wrote.

The results showed that 81 surgeons responded to the questionnaire, and 40 of those surgeons, or 49%, routinely use ACL scoring systems, while 41 surgeons do not use any scoring system. The most commonly used scoring system was the combination of the Lysolm (I and II) knee scale and Tegner system, comprising 59% of the results, while the Knee injury and osteoarthritis outcome score (KOOS) comprised 12% of the results. The International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) subjective knee score was used 9% of the time, according to the study abstract.

Reference:

• Varghese M, Ibrahim M, Barton S, Hopton B. The use of anterior cruciate ligament scoring systems in the UK - who's using them? Paper #245. Presented at the British Orthopaedic Association and the Irish Orthopaedic Association Combined Meeting 2011. Sept. 13-19. Dublin.
• Disclosure: The authors have no relevant disclosures.

Follow OrthoSuperSite.com on Twitter