In the July 22, 2010, issue of New England Journal of Medicine, Bruce Levy, M.D., Mayo Clinic orthopedic surgeon, provides an editorial on ACL injuries and repair. Dr. Levy’s editorial reviews the study in the same issue by Frobell and colleagues who report results of a randomized, controlled study and compared two treatment strategies for ACL tears.
Dr. Levy’s commentary finds that given that no two patients and no two ACL injuries are identical, it is extremely difficult to recommend a single treatment strategy for all patients with ACL injuries. The study by Frobell et al. confirms that some patients who are not elite-level athletes can function with an ACL-deficient knee. However, it is difficult to predict which patients will have symptoms of instability that require surgery, and longer-term data are needed to truly understand the benefits and consequences of each of the two strategies described in this study. Ultimately, the decision about whether to reconstruct an ACL-deficient knee, and the timing of surgery when reconstruction is indicated, should be individually tailored to address the unique characteristics of each injured knee and to meet the specific needs of each patient.
To read the rest of Dr. Levy’s commentary, please see the lastest issue of NEJM:
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/363/4/386
Below is a link to an edited youtube video with Dr. Levy.
At last! Someone who undrestands! Thanks for posting!