A RIGOROUS COMPARISON BETWEEN THE SEXES OF RESULTS AND COMPLICATIONS AFTER ANTERIOR CRUCIATE LIGAMENT RECONSTRUCTION

Although there is a higher relative incidence of anterior cruciate lig ament injuries in female than in comparable male athletes according to the literature, the majority of populations studied after reconstruct ion are male-dominated. We wished to determine whether a selection bia s for reconstruction based on sex is warranted according to complicati ons and outcome. Ninety-four patients (47 of each sex) were matched fo r chronicity of injury, age, preoperative sports activity levels, arti cular cartilage condition, and months of followup. All had patellar te ndon autogenous reconstruction and a similar program of immediate knee motion and early return to function. The results were rated with the Cincinnati Knee Rating System. At a mean of 26 months postoperatively, there were no significant differences for complications or outcome be tween men and women. Women required an average of six more rehabilitat ion visits than men; however, none required additional surgery for kne e motion complications and the rate of patellofemoral crepitus convers ion was only 7%, lower than that found for men (15%). The overall fail ure rate was low, only 6% for women and 4% for men. We concluded that the functional rehabilitation program was effective, postoperative com plications were few, and no scientific basis exists to use sex alone a s a selection criteria for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.