|
ACL Tears Send More Teens to OR
Reported October 07, 2009
(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- It sends thousands of patients to the OR every
year, and those patients are getting younger. New research shows ACL tears
are on the rise in women and teens, and more and more often leading to
re-injury and multiple surgeries.
In the largest study of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) surgery to date,
investigators found patients younger than 20 who underwent reconstructive
surgery had an 82 percent increased risk for an additional ACL surgery. In
addition, the younger a patient was, the more likely it was he or she would
need another surgery within one year of the initial procedure.
"We believe that younger patients may be at a higher risk for additional ACL
surgery because they tend to be more active and this can lead to graft
rupture," study author Stephen Lyman, Ph.D., director of Epidemiology and
Biostatistics at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, was quoted as
saying.
Other factors found to increase the likelihood of a second ACL surgery
include being female and receiving treatment from surgeons who performed
fewer than six ACL operations per year or at hospitals that handled fewer
than 24 ACL cases per year. Female patients were 18 percent more likely than
men to need subsequent surgery on one of their knees.
Dr. Lyman said understanding these risk factors is important since re-injury
and subsequent surgeries can lead to arthritis.
SOURCE: Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, October 2009 |
