A recent study - Pediatric Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction: Adding Lateral Extra-Articular Tenodesis Resulted in Similar Return to Sport without Increasing Pain Scores - was published by Dr. Ted Ganley and his colleagues at CHOP.
How was the study performed?
A retrospective chart review to determine first: clinical factors that motivate surgeons to perform an LET at the time of ACL reconstruction; and second: to compare early clinical outcomes between patients who underwent an ACLR alone versus ACLR with LET.
Of note....
The addition of an extraarticular stabilization procedure such as LET or ALL reconstruction has been shown to reduce the risk of graft rupture in adults, but there are limited studies in the pediatric population.
What did Dr. Ganley find?
The authors found that the Beighton score for the ACL+LET group was significantly greater than that of the ACL alone group. Second, LET procedures were more commonly performed in revision surgery rather than primary ACL reconstruction. This study suggests that greater ligamentous laxity, as measured by Beighton score, as well as the patient requiring a revision ACL reconstruction, may make surgeons treating pediatric patients more likely to offer LET or ALL reconstruction.
Lastly, this study suggests that the addition of LET resulted in similar pain levels, sport clearance times and post-op mobility compared to ACL reconstruction alone.
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