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High reoperation, reinjury rates seen after precollegiate ACL reconstruction
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Division I athletes were shown to have high rates of reoperation and reinjury, and precollegiate ACL reconstruction was associated with very high rates of repeat ACL injury to the graft or opposing knee, according to study findings.
Researchers retrospectively reviewed the charts of 35 athletes who underwent precollegiate ACL reconstruction (PC group) and 54 athletes who underwent intracollegiate ACL reconstruction (IC group), collecting graft survivorship, reoperation rates and career length information.
Study results showed the PC group had a 17.1% injury rate with the original graft and a 20% rate of contralateral ACL injury, whereas the IC group had a 1.9% reinjury rate with an ACL graft and an 11.1% rate of a contralateral ACL injury after intracollegiate ACL reconstruction.
The researchers found athletes in the PC group used 78% of their total eligibility, and athletes in the IC group used an average of 77% of their remaining National Collegiate Athletic Association eligibility.
Of the athletes in the IC group, 88.3% played an additional non-redshirt year after their injury, according to the researchers. Additionally, the PC group had a reoperation rate of 51.4% vs. 20.4% for the IC group.
“It’s very clear from our data that the younger the elite athlete, the higher risk for injury,” lead study author, Ganesh M.V. Kamath, MD, an assistant professor of orthopedics in the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, said in a press release. “It’s clear that these kids are going to get back to playing sports at a higher level, but there is something in their makeup that puts them at high risk for tearing the ACL in the same or the other knee again. Once the athlete gets past adolescence, this risk seems to go way down.”
Disclosure: This study was paid for by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Sports Medicine Research Fund.
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