title: Timing of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction and Incidence of Meniscal and Chondral Injury within the Knee.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To review a single-surgeon series of 616 athletic patients with anterior cruciate ligament reconstructions in order to evaluate the relationship between the timing of the reconstruction and the incidence of meniscal and chondral injuries.
  
  
  METHODS
  SIX GROUP OF PATIENTS WERE CATEGORIZED BASED ON THE TIME INTERVAL FROM THEIR INJURY TO SURGERY IN THE FOLLOWING MANNER: <3 months, 3-6 months, 6-9 months, 9-18 months, 18-36 months, and >36 months. The presence of meniscal tears was documented and chondral pathology was scored based on the Outerbridge classification.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Incidence of medial meniscus tear was significantly higher in patients undergoing reconstruction after 3 months from their injury (P = 0.032). The opportunity of patients with chondral pathology was recorded to be significantly higher in the groups operated on after 6 months from their injuries time (P = 0.008).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Considering the effect of time on the rate of having meniscus injury and chondral pathology, reducing the time between the injury and surgery could improve the long-term health outcomes in this population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics, Rasoule-Akram Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran ; Department of Sports Medicine, Rasoule-Akram hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Razi
authors.forename: Shahin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Salehi
authors.forename: Haleh
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dadgostar
authors.forename: Afsaneh Safar
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Cherati
authors.forename: Ahmad Bagheri
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Moghaddam
authors.forename: Seyyed Mehdi
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Tabatabaiand
authors.forename: Masoud Solaymani
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Dodaran
keywords: Chondral injury; ligament reconstruction; meniscal