Arthroscopic Assisted Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction: Our Experience in Tripoli Medical Centre

Abstract

Deficiency of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is a common disorder which can lead to changes in lifestyle.
We followed twenty patients who had arthroscopic reconstruction of the ACL using a central-third patellar-tendon
autograft for two years to assess the long-term effectiveness of recent advances in reconstruction of the ACL. The
standard criteria for evaluation of the International Knee Documentation Committee, the Lysholm knee score
deterioration in the clinical performance after two years was associated with osteoarthritic changes and correlated
with chronic ligament injuries and meniscectomy. We report our experience of the first 20 cases of arthroscopic
assisted ACL reconstruction using Bone Tendon Bone Graft (B.T.B) graft in two years. We believe that the procedure
can be successful, but remain concerned about failure of the graft and osteoarthritis. The results raise questions about
the best time to operate and suggest that early surgery may reduce the risk of osteoarthritis.