High failure rate for electrothermal shrinkage of the lax anterior cruciate ligament: a multicenter follow-up past 2 years.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to prospectively evaluate the midterm results (beyond 2 years) of thermal shrinkage on both lax native anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and lax reconstructions and determine the effectiveness of this procedure.

Methods: This is a multicenter study in which 64 patients from 2 sites underwent electrothermal shrinkage for a lax ACL, both native and previous reconstructions. They were followed up past 2 years with KT-1000 measurements (MEDmetric, San Diego, CA).