Background/Purpose: Background: The development of knee’s osteoarthritis after anterior cruciate ligament ACL injury is now widely recognized. The impact of surgical or rehabilitative management on the development of post-traumatic osteoarthritis is still debated.
We present here a meta-analysis about the evolution and progression of knee’s osteoarthritis after ACL surgery or conservative management

Methods: A systematic litterature’s review was conducted using PubMed, EMBASE, Medline, and Cochrane library data. Only RCTs with a conservative group and a surgical group after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury were included, and if they reported radiographic results of injured knees using the Kellgren and Laurence (KL) classification score. Heterogeneity was evaluated by Cochrane’s Q and I2 statistics.

Results: Six studies were included after litterature’s review (February 8, 2019 at May 15, 2019). Three studies met the inclusion criteria and were retained for the meta-analysis. Of the 343 injured knees, 180 underwent ACL reconstruction and 163 received conservative treatment. The relative risk of knee’s osteoarthritis was higher after surgery than after conservative treatment (RR 1.72[1.18-2.53], I²=0%.

Conclusion: The results of this meta analyse show that ACL reconstruction surgery predisposes to knee’s osteoarthritis compared to conservative management. This suggests that a review of practices could be considered by promoting non-surgical management in the young subject.

« Back to 2019 ACR/ARP Annual Meeting

ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/impact-of-acl-injury-management-on-the-development-of-knee-osteoarthritis-a-meta-analysis/