Outcome of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction with emphasis on sex‐related differences

The aim of this retrospective study was to compare the results after arthroscopic anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction using the four-strand semitendinosus-gracilis (ST/G) autograft in male (n=141) vs female (n=103) patients. The patients were operated on between 1996 and 2005, using interference screw fixation and drilling the femoral tunnel through the anteromedial portal. The pre-operative assessments and demographics, apart from age (males 29 years, females 26 years; P=0.02), were comparable at the time of surgery. At 25 (23-36) months post-operatively, no significant differences were found between the study groups in terms of anterior side-to-side knee laxity, manual Lachman test, Tegner activity level, Lysholm knee score, range of motion or donor-site morbidity. Both study groups improved significantly in most clinical assessments and functional scores compared with their pre-operative values. Two years after ACL reconstruction using ST/G autografts, there were no significant differences between male and female patients in terms of clinical outcome or functional scores.