REVISION ANTERIOR CRUCIATE LIGAMENT SURGERY - EXPERIENCE FROM PITTSBURGH

Twenty-five patients who underwent revision anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction after failure of a previous intraarticular reconstruct ion were retrospectively reviewed. Before revision, all patients repor ted functional instability with sports or activities of daily living a nd exhibited increased anterior patholaxity on physical examination. F resh frozen irradiated allograft tissue was used for all revisions. A comprehensive knee analysis using a subjective and objective system wa s done for all patients preoperatively and at the time of final follow up, The mean age at revision surgery was 25 years and average time fro m primary to revision surgery was 30 months, Average length of followu p was 28 months, The anteroposterior displacement was improved in all patients. Sixty-four percent of patients had less than 5 mm side to si de difference on arthrometric testing, Eighty percent had either a Gra de 0 or Grade 1 pivot shift, The average modified Cincinnati Knee Scor e was 68 with the results of 88% of patients rated abnormal by Interna tional Knee Documentation Committee guidelines, Seventy-six percent of patients were satisfied with their results and would elect to have re vision surgery again, These results show that patients having revision anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction for a failed intraarticular reconstruction had improvement in their functional status compared wi th prerevision; however, they did not achieve the same level of satisf actory results as primary anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.