Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Osteoarthritis

Does post-injury ACL reconstruction prevent future OA?

Young adults with an acute rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament of the knee are faced with the decision of whether or not to undergo early reconstructive surgery. However, a lack of high-quality evidence means questions remain about whether this surgical strategy protects against the development of osteoarthritis in the future.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Development of OA after acute rupture of the ACL of the knee.

References

  1. Brophy, R. H., Gray, B. L., Nunley, R. M., Barrack, R. L. & Clohisy, J. C. Total knee arthroplasty after previous knee surgery: expected interval and the effect on patient age. J. Bone Joint Surg. Am. 96, 801–805 (2014).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Lohmander, L. S., Englund, M., Dahl, L. L. & Roos, E. M. The long-term consequence of anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus injuries: osteoarthritis. Am. J. Sports Med. 35, 1756–1769 (2007).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Cox, C. L. et al. Are articular cartilage lesions and meniscus tears predictive of IKDC, KOOS, and Marx activity level outcomes after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction? A 6-year multicenter cohort study. Am. J. Sports Med. 42, 1058–1067 (2014).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Frobell, R. B., Roos, E. M., Roos, H. P., Ranstam, J. & Lohmander, L. S. A randomized trial of treatment for acute anterior cruciate ligament tear. N. Engl. J. Med. 363, 331–342 (2010).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Frobell, R. B. et al. Treatment for acute anterior cruciate ligament tear: five year outcome of randomised trial. BMJ 346, f232 (2013).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Potter, H. G. et al. Cartilage injury after acute, isolated anterior cruciate ligament tear: immediate and longitudinal effect with clinical/MRI follow-up. Am. J. Sports Med. 40, 276–285 (2012).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Anderson, D. D. et al. Post-traumatic osteoarthritis: improved understanding and opportunities for early intervention. J. Orthop. Res. 29, 802–809 (2011).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Wen, C.-Y., Qin, L., Lee, K.-M., Wong, M. W.-N. & Chan, K.-M. Influence of bone adaptation on tendon-to-bone healing in bone tunnel after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction in a rabbit model. J. Orthop. Res. 27, 1447–1456 (2009).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Hosseini, A., van de Velde, S., Gill, T. J. & Li, G. Tibiofemoral cartilage contact biomechanics in patients after reconstruction of a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament. J. Orthop. Res. 30, 1781–1788 (2012).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Nia, H. T. et al. High-bandwidth AFM-based rheology reveals that cartilage is most sensitive to high loading rates at early stages of impairment. Biophys. J. 104, 1529–1537 (2013).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chunyi Wen.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

PowerPoint slides

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wen, C., Lohmander, L. Does post-injury ACL reconstruction prevent future OA?. Nat Rev Rheumatol 10, 577–578 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrrheum.2014.120

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrrheum.2014.120

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing