Allograft Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction in Adolescent Patients May Result in Acceptable Graft Failure Rate in Nonpivoting Sports Athletes

Abstract

Background: Studies have demonstrated that pediatric patients have an increased risk of failure with allograft anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR); however, there is no study investigating whether allograft ACLR may be safe in older adolescent patients who are not returning to competitive pivoting sports (ie, low risk). The purpose of this study was to assess outcomes for low-risk older adolescents selected for allograft ACLR. Methods: We performed a retrospective chart review of patients younger than 18 years who received a bone-patellar-tendon-bone allograft or autograft ACLR by a single orthopaedic surgeon from 2012 to 2020. Patients were offered allograft ACLR if they did not intend to return to pivoting sports for 1 year. The autograft cohort was matched 1:1 based on age, sex, and follow-up. Patients were excluded for skeletal immaturity, multiligamentous injury, prior ipsilateral ACLR, or concomitant realignment procedure. Patients were contacted to obtain patient-reported outcomes at ≥2 years follow-up, including single assessment numerical evaluation, surgery satisfaction, pain scores, Tegner Activity Scale, and the Lysholm Knee Scoring Scale. Parametric and nonparametric tests were used as appropriate. Results: Of the 68 allografts, 40 (59%) met inclusion and 28 (70%) were contacted. Among the 456 autografts, 40 (8.7%) were matched and 26 (65%) were contacted. Two allograft patients (2/40; 5%) failed at a median (interquartile range) follow-up of 36 (12, 60) months. There were 0/40 failures in the autograft cohort and 13/456 (2.9%) among the overall autografts; neither were significantly different from the allograft failure rate (both P > 0.05). Two (5.0%) patients in the autograft cohort required manipulation under anesthesia and arthroscopic lysis of adhesions. There were no significant differences between cohorts for single assessment numerical evaluation, Lysholm, Tegner, pain, and satisfaction scores (all P > 0.05). Conclusions: Although ACL allograft failure rates remain nearly two times higher than autograft failure rates in older adolescents, our study suggests that careful patient selection can potentially bring this failure rate down to an acceptable level. Level of Evidence: Level III; retrospective matched cohort study.