2025 ISAKOS Congress in Munich, Germany

2025 ISAKOS Biennial Congress Paper

 

Long-term outcomes for combined anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction and lateral closing wedge high tibial osteotomy

Piero Agostinone, MD, Bologna QATAR
Gian Andrea Lucidi, MD, Bologna ITALY
Giacomo Dal Fabbro, MD, Sydney, New South Wales AUSTRALIA
Stefano Di Paolo, Eng, Bologna ITALY
Anna Pagano, MD, Bologna ITALY
Marianna Viotto, Bologna, Bologna ITALY
Alberto Grassi, PhD, Bologna ITALY
Stefano Zaffagnini, MD, Prof., Bologna ITALY

Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Bologna, ITALY

FDA Status Not Applicable

Summary

The combination of ACL reconstruction and HTO in varus knee with anterior instability provides satisfactory clinical and radiological results at a mean follow-up of 14 years

Abstract

Purpose

A combined anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction and high tibial osteotomy (HTO) is considered a valuable treatment in young patients affected by symptomatic medial osteoarthritis and ACL deficiency. However, only a few studies have investigated the outcomes of this procedure, especially in the long term. Therefore, the aim of this study is to report clinical and radiographic outcomes of ACL reconstruction and lateral closing wedge HTO at a mean of 14 years of follow-up.

Methods

Patients were prospectively evaluated pre-operatively, after 6.5 ± 2.7 years and 14.3 ± 2.2 years. Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) were collected, knee laxity was assessed through KT-1000 arthrometer, and limb alignment and knee osteoarthritis were evaluated on long-cassette radiographs. Survivorship of the surgical procedure was calculated through the Kaplan-Meier method.

Results

32 patients were initially enrolled and completed the mid-term evaluation (6.5 ± 2.7 years), and 23 patients (72%) were available for the final evaluation at 14.3 ± 2.2 years after surgery. Statistically significant improvement was found for all the clinical scores (VAS, WOMAC, Tegner, subjective IKDC, objective IKDC) between the pre-operative status and the mid-term follow-up (p < .001). VAS, subjective IKDC and objective IKDC showed no statistically significant differences (p > .05) between the mid-term and the final follow-up; a significant decrease of WOMAC (p < .05) and Tegner (p < .001) was found from mid-term to final follow-up. Significant progression of osteoarthritis was found for all the knee compartments. The survivorship was 95.7% at 5 years, 82.6% at 10 years, and 72.8% at 15 years.

Conclusions

Combined ACL reconstruction and lateral closing wedge HTO showed satisfactory clinical outcomes and survivorship at a mean of 14 years follow-up.