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Concomitant cartilage repair, ACL surgery results best with OAT technique
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Investigators found that osteochondral autologous transplantation (OAT) yielded the best results vs. microfracture and debridement when used to treat articular cartilage damage during ACL reconstruction.
They noted in the randomized study of 102 patients with 3-year follow-up that regardless of cartilage treatment method the International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) scores at the last follow-up for all treatment methods were significantly better than they were preoperatively. A control group of patients with ACL tears and intact articular cartilage had the highest IKDC scores 3 years after treatment, mean, among all the cartilage treatment groups, according to the abstract.
“Our study shows that intact articular cartilage during ACL reconstruction yields more favorable IKDC subjective scores compared with any other articular cartilage surgery type,” Rimtautas Gudas, MD, PhD, and colleagues wrote in the study abstract.
They stated, “If an articular defect is present, the subjective IKDC scores are significantly better for OAT versus microfracture or debridement after a mean period of 3 years. Anterior knee stability results were not significantly affected by the different articular cartilage treatment methods.”
Gudas and colleagues found similar pivot-shift knee laxity across all the groups using the IKDC form with about 85% of the knees rated as normal or nearly normal, based on the abstract.
Disclosure: The authors have no relevant financial disclosures.
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