ARTHROSCOPIC ANTERIOR CRUCIATE LIGAMENT RECONSTRUCTION WITH LARS ARTIFICIAL LIGAMENT: AN 8-15-YEAR FOLLOW-UP

The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical results of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction with an artificial ligament of the Ligament Augmentation and Reconstruction System (LARS) via an 8-15-year follow-up. Between January 1996 and January 2003, 38 patients received arthroscopic anterior cruciate reconstruction with the LARS artificial ligament at the Show Chwan Memorial Hospital, Changhua, Taiwan. Among them, 28 cases were included in this study. Excluding two failure cases, 26 cases were involved in the statistical analysis of various clinical assessments. The mean follow-up period after reconstruction was 11.4 +/- 1.9 years. Assessment of clinical results included physical examination, magnetic resonance imaging, radiography, KT-1000 arthrometer test for knee stability, range of motion measurement, Lysholm score, and Tegner scale activity evaluations. The outcomes showed that among these 28 follow-up patients, there were two failure cases. The survival rate of LARS ligament reconstruction in this long-term follow-up was 92.9%. Among the 26 clinical assessed cases, the stability of the knee joint was improved as the anterior translation displacement measured by arthrometer reduced from 7.0 +/- 3.1 mm (range: 4-17 mm) pre-operatively to 1.7 +/- 1.7 mm (range: 0-6 mm) post-operatively. The Lysholm score improved from 39.7 +/- 11.5 pre-operatively to 85.9 +/- 19.6 post-operatively. Tegner activity scale improved from 3.2 +/- 1.5 pre-operatively to 5.4 +/- 2.4 post-operatively. All three improvements have statistic significance as the p-values were less than 0.05. In conclusion, ruptured ACL reconstruction with LARS artificial ligament has a survival rate of 92.9% and complication rate of 28.6% in this 8-15-year follow-up.