Tears of the anterior cruciate ligament in adolescents.

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Tears of the anterior cruciate ligament in adolescents are rare. From 1977 to 1983 we did a surgical reconstruction of that ligament, using the semitendinosus and gracilis tendons, in twenty-four athletes who were twelve to fifteen years old. We routinely supplemented that procedure with the Ellison or Losee extra-articular reconstruction. The length of follow-up averaged thirty-five months. There were sixteen excellent, seven good, and one fair-plus result. Only one patient showed a significant growth abnormality. Use of the semitendinosus and gracilis tendons did not significantly decrease the strength of flexion or internal rotation as measured by the Cybex-II dynamometer.