144 Good results of surgically treated pediatric knee ligament injuries in Denmark 2011–20 at one-year follow-up

Abstract

baseline. Patients were followed for 12 months and assessed for the presence of mechanical symptoms at 3, 6 and 12 months. Results In total, 63/121 patients reported mechanical symptoms at baseline (surgery, n=33 and exercise, n=30), while 9/ 26 in the surgery group and 20/29 in the exercise group reported mechanical symptoms at 12-month (missing data on 8 patients). During follow-up 8 patients crossed over from the exercise group to use the opportunity for later surgery.At 12-month the risk difference was 34.4% (95% CI 9.5-59.2) and the relative risk was 1.99 (95%CI, 1.11-3.57) in favour of the surgery group. Similarly, a larger proportion of patients in the exercise group reported mechanical symptoms at 3 and 6 months. Conclusion Our results suggest that meniscal surgery may be superior in alleviating mechanical symptoms compared with exercise therapy and patient education with the option of later surgery in young patients with meniscal tears and self-reported mechanical symptoms.