According to recent research, the odds of an ACL re-tear post-reconstruction could be high for females younger than age 25 with a graft size of less than 8 mm.

Other contributing factors to the increased odds of a re-tear include estrogen levels, anatomical differences, and decreased knee strength, according to the study’s lead author Duong Nguyen, MD, in a media release from the American Orthopaedic Society of Sports Medicine (AOSSM).

The study was presented recently at the AOSSM’s Annual Meeting in Colorado Springs, Colo.

In the study, Nguyen and his team studied a group of 503 athletes who underwent primary, autograft hamstring ACL reconstruction—the same surgical technique, performed at the same hospital, by the same surgeon—between September and December 2012. Altogether, there were 235 females and 268 males, and their average ages were 27. Postsurgery, the participants were followed for 2 years.

The patients were allowed to return to sports participation between 6 and 12 months postsurgery only if they were pain-free, had equal quadriceps/hamstring strength, and if they had graduated from the rehabilitation program, according to the release.

“Given the results of our study, we feel that surgeons should counsel their younger, female patients accordingly and consider modifying their surgical techniques to utilize larger-size grafts and/or rehabilitation strategies to lessen the chance of a re-tear,” Nguyen states in the release.

[Source(s): American Orthopaedic Society of Sports Medicine, PRWeb]