ANTERIOR CRUCIATE LIGAMENT (ACL) REPAIR WITH SUTURE TAPE AUGMENTATION AND EARLY ACL RECONSTRUCTION WITH SUTURE TAPE AUGMENTATION RESULT IN COMPARABLE CLINICAL OUTCOMES WITH ACL RECONSTRUCTION AT TWO-YEAR FOLLOW-UP

To compare the postoperative side-to-side laxity and short-term clinical outcomes of patients who received primary anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) repair with suture tape augmentation, acute anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) with suture tape augmentation performed within eight weeks of injury (ACLRacute), or ACLR beyond eight weeks of injury. After institutional review board approval was obtained, 100 patients were enrolled in this prospective trial: 34 primary ACL repair with suture tape augmentation, 33 ACLRs performed within eight weeks of injury (ACLRacute), and 33 ACLRs. Patients were allocated to ACL repair if a proximal avulsion was present with good tissue quality (Sherman type 1), confirmed by intraoperative diagnostic arthroscopy. Preoperative side-to-side anteroposterior knee laxity was assessed with KT-1000 arthrometer, and patient-reported outcomes (PROs) including the visual analog scale, Marx activity scale, Veterans RAND 12-item health survey (VR-12 physical & mental), Single Assessment Numeric Evaluation, Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score survey subscales, and range of motion were collected. These objective and subjective measures were repeated at regular intervals postoperatively through 2 years. Minimal clinically important difference calculations were performed assessing postoperative PRO changes at 2 years compared with preoperative. The average time from injury to surgery was 5.03 ± 1.2 weeks for the ACL repair group, 5.09 ± 0.74 weeks for the ACLRacute, and 43.22 ± 33.5 weeks for the ACLR group. Postoperatively, the KT-1000 side-to-side laxity difference for 30 lbs was determined to be 0.1 ± 0.37 (95% confidence interval [CI] –0.7 to 0.8) for ACL repair versus ACLR (P < .0001), –0.8 ± 0.35 (95% CI –1.5 to –0.1) for ACLRacute versus ACLR (P < .0001), and 0.8 ± 0.40 (95% CI 0.0–1.6) for ACL repair versus ACLRacute (P < .0001). The data reveal ACL repair and ACLRacute are noninferior to ACLR at 2-year follow-up. The postoperative difference from baseline for all PROs demonstrated improvement for all PROs. Magnetic resonance imaging at one year revealed tissue healing for the three ACL injury treatment groups. Patients who underwent ACL repair of proximal tears with suture tape augmentation or ACL reconstruction within eight weeks from injury resulted in noninferior side-to-side knee laxity, comparable PROs, and similar range of motion at 2-year follow-up compared with ACLR.