A comparison of patient-reported outcomes and arthroscopic findings between drilling and autologous osteochondral grafting for the treatment of articular cartilage defects combined with anterior cruciate ligament injury.
BACKGROUND
To compare the patient-reported outcomes and arthroscopic findings between drilling and autologous osteochondral grafting (AOG) for the treatment of articular cartilage defects combined with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries.


METHODS
The subjects were 40 patients who had articular cartilage defects in the weight-bearing part of the medial and lateral femur condyle combined with ACL injuries that were treated by drilling (20 patients) or AOG (20 patients) at the same time as ACL reconstruction was performed. In the drilling group patients, lesions were penetrated with multiple 1.2-mm Kirschner wires, and in the AOG group patients, grafts were made to cartilage defects from one to three osteochondral pegs harvested from the less-weight-bearing periphery of the articular surface of the femoral condyle. The patient-reported outcomes were assessed using the International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) subjective knee examination score. Second-look arthroscopy was performed to evaluate the repaired cartilage macroscopically.


RESULTS
The median follow-up duration was 25 (range, 12-42) months. The IKDC scores were significantly improved from 64.4 to 95.4 points in the drilling group and from 52.3 to 94.3 points in the AOG group, with no difference between the two groups, although there was a difference in the repaired cartilage findings of arthroscopy.


CONCLUSIONS
In this study, no differences in IKDC scores were found in patients with a concomitant ACL rupture and an osteochondral lesion treated by drilling or AOG at a minimum follow-up of 1year, regardless of the differences at arthroscopic grading of the ICRS classification.


METHODS
Case-control study (LEVEL III).
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Shimane University School of Medicine, Shimane, Japan. imades@med.shimane-u.ac.jp
Shinji
S
Imade
Nobuyuki
N
Kumahashi
Suguru
S
Kuwata
Masaru
M
Kadowaki
Takaaki
T
Tanaka
Hiroshi
H
Takuwa
Yuji
Y
Uchio
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016118:Anterior Cruciate Ligament / Q000601:surgery; D000070598:Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries; D059549:Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction / Q000379:methods; D054544:Arthroplasty, Subchondral / Q000379:methods*; D001182:Arthroscopy / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D001864:Bone Wires; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000293:injuries* / Q000601:surgery*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D059026:Diagnostic Self Evaluation; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006085:Graft Survival; D006801:Humans; D007718:Knee Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009104:Multiple Trauma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014182:Transplantation, Autologous / Q000379:methods; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult