Does anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction lead to degenerative disease?: Thirteen-year results after bone-patellar tendon-bone autograft.

Background: Reporting of long-term outcome of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction with the patellar tendon (bone-patellar tendon-bone [BTB]) autograft is limited. There are concerns that degenerative joint disease is common in the long term, which may be associated with the procedure itself.

Hypotheses: (1) ACL reconstruction with BTB provides good long-term outcome.