ANTERIOR CRUCIATE LIGAMENT RECONSTRUCTION IN THE MILITARY PATIENT

This study prospectively evaluates the likelihood of a return of milit ary personnel to full duty after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruc tion. We report the results of 120 active duty military patients who u nderwent anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction with autogenous pat ella tendon. Mean follow-up was 29 months (range, 24-65 months), Time from injury to reconstruction was >6 months in 90% of patients. Final Lysholm scores averaged 89 (range, 29-100). We found that 77% of patie nts returned to full duty, whereas 23% of patients were medically disc harged from military service, The patient age, military rank, time fro m injury to surgery, and KT-1000 measurements did not correlate with e ither the Lysholm score or return to duty (p = 0.05). Severe chondroma lacia (Outerbridge hi or IV) did correlate with poor result (p = 0.043 ), and Lysholm score did correlate with return to duty (p = 0.003), An terior cruciate ligament reconstruction offers a higher likelihood of return to full military duty than nonoperative treatment in a similar study.