Anterior Cruciate Ligament Repair: The Current Status

Update This article was updated on December 31, 2020, because of a previous error. On page 1911, in the section entitled “Short-Term Clinical Results,” the sentence that had read “An ongoing, nonrandomized cohort study has been comparing the BEAR procedure with ACL reconstruction using hamstring autograft 14,67 .” now reads “An ongoing, nonrandomized cohort study has been comparing the BEAR procedure with ACL reconstruction using hamstring autograft 14 .” An erratum has been published: J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2021 Feb 3;103(3):e14. ➤ Failure rates for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) repair are greater than those for ACL reconstruction. ➤ There are no long-term outcome studies for ACL repairs, as far as we know, and postoperative protocols including physical therapy progression and return-to-play criteria following ACL repair have not been established. ➤ There are currently insufficient data to support utilization of ACL repair in all patients and tear types. ➤ ACL reconstruction remains the gold standard surgical option for patients with ACL tears.