ANTERIOR CRUCIATE LIGAMENT TEAR: DOES EARLY RECONSTRUCTION AFFECT THE FUNCTIONAL OUTCOME

Background and purpose: It is a debatable subject that, early ACL reconstruction has better outcomes than the delayed one. The purpose of this prospective study is to evaluate functional outcome following ACL reconstruction in the two cohort one with early and another with delayed recon struction. Patients and methods: Seventy six patients with ACL - deficient knees that met inclusion criteria underwent ACL reconstruction using quadrupled hamstring autograft by one surgeon. Patients were grouped into two groups on the basis of simple random sampling. patients in the group I underwent ACL reconstruction within 8 weeks after injury and patients in group II after 8 weeks of injury. All patients were subjected to same post - operative rehabilitation protocol. All the knees were observed in a pro spective manner with a subjective and an objective functional outcome score, and range of motion at 2, 8, 14, 24, 52 - weeks and 2 - year interval. Results: Range of motion was less in the group I in the first 24 weeks, and the difference was significant (p < 0.01). At one and two years of follow - up the difference was not significant (P < 0.01). The IKDC and the Lysholm score was apparently better in the group II but the difference was significant till 52 postoperative week (p < 0.01) and was not significant a t second postoperative year. Conclusion: There is no advantage in early reconstruction for the ACL insufficiency. Delayed surgery, allow the surgeon to assess more carefully a patient’s suitability for the surgery