COMBINED KNEE INJURIES INVOLVING ANTERIOR CRUCIATE LIGAMENT TEARS - ARETROSPECTIVE STUDY

We identified 107 consecutive patients with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture who underwent arthroscopy after trauma. The results of the preoperative clinical examination and the arthroscopic findings of associated injuries to the knee are shown. Some 55% of the acute ACL ruptures involved a tear of the lateral meniscus, 45% of the medial me niscus, and 34% had a lesion of the medial collateral ligament. The mo st frequent combination of injuries with ACL rupture was a tear in bot h menisci and a lesion of the medial collateral ligament with a tear i n the lateral meniscus. The preoperative examination revealed the ACL rupture in 94% of uses but the lateral meniscal lesion in only 32%. At the time of operation 29% of all associated injuries had not been dis covered. These results show that - independent of the time of reconstr uction of the torn ACL - acute rupture of the ACL is an indication for arthroscopy.