No abstract

Both methods provided satisfactory results in 77% of the patients at five years. There was no significant difference in the clinical and radiographic results between the two treatment groups and no correlation between the histological findings and the clinical outcome. One-third of the patients had early radiographic signs of osteoarthritis five years after the surgery. Further long-term follow-up is needed to determine if one method is better than the other and to study the progression of osteoarthritis.

No abstract

We did a retrospective study of all anterior cruciate ligament injuries (972) verified by arthroscopic evaluation at hospitals in the Hordaland region of Norway from 1982 to 1991. Our final study group comprised 176 patients who had participated in organized soccer and answered a questionnaire. The overall incidence rate was 0.063 injuries per 1000 game hours. Men incurred 75.6% (133) of the injuries. Women had an incidence rate of 0.10 injuries per 1000 game hours, significantly higher than that for men (0.057). The incidence rate was higher (0.41) for men in the top three divisions. Most of the injuries (124) occurred during games. Contact injuries from tackling was the injury mechanism in 46.0% of the cases. Players on the offensive team incurred 122 (69.3%) of the injuries. Reconstructive surgery was performed on 131 (74.4%) of the injured players and was found necessary for return to a high level of play. Half of the players (87) returned to soccer; men at high levels of play had the highest return rate (88.9%), and men over age 34 had the poorest return rate (22.9%). Nearly one-third of the injured athletes gave up soccer because of poor knee function or fear of new injury.

Therapeutic Level I. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

No abstract

Treatment of ACL tears is controversial. Recent reports on nonoperative treatment have shown poor results. Results after primary repair have deteriorated with time, leading to augmentation procedures that seem to have improved the results. However, there have been few prospective, randomized studies in this field. Our goal was to compare primary repair with a bone-patellar tendon-bone augmentation method and with a new method using the Kennedy Ligament Augmentation Device. One hundred fifty patients aged 16 to 50, all of whom had acute ACL tears, were randomized with the closed envelope method to one of three groups treated with open surgical methods. Fifty patients were treated with primary repair, 50 patients with patellar tendon augmentation, and 50 patients were augmented with the Kennedy Ligament Augmentation Device. All patients were operated on within 10 days of injury. The rehabilitation protocol was identical, consisting of a long leg cast for 2 weeks, followed by a brace with no weight-bearing and limited motion for 6 weeks. The patients were followed prospectively by one surgeon (LE) using the Lysholm functional score, Tegner activity level score, clinical evaluation and KT-1000 arthrometer at 6 months, 1, and 2 years. Three patients were lost to followup. There was no age or activity level difference between the groups. Sport activities led to 85% of the injuries, with skiing, soccer, and European handball representing 80% of injuries. All three groups reduced their activity level the 1st year. The repair group remained at the same level after 2 years.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

tration of cruciate ligament injuries in Norwegian top level team handball. A prospective study covering two seasons. Scand J Med Sci Sports 1997: 7: 289-292. 0 Munksgaard, 1997 All cruciate ligament injuries in the three upper divisions for men and women (3392 players) in Norwegian team handball in the 1989-90 and 1990-91 seasons were registered. A questionnaire was mailed to all injured players. Ninety-three cruciate ligament injuries were registered; 87 in the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), and six in the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL). Among women, 1.8% were injured compared with 1.0% of the men. In the first division, the risk of being injured was considerably higher: 4.5% of the players had a cruciate ligament injury. There were 0.97 cruciate ligament injuries per 1000 playing hours in the three divisions taken together. Seventy-five per cent of the injuries occurred during games. Ninety-five per cent involved no contact between players. Activities in which the friction between shoe and floor was significant caused 55% of the injuries. Injuries caused by running into another player contributed to only 5% of the injuries. No significant differences were observed in injury incidence during matches between different types of floors (parquet, Pulastic and other synthetic surfaces). 6.