Postoperative radiographic observations following transphyseal anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction in skeletally immature patients.

Objective: To characterize the changes to bone tunnels, graft fixation devices, and physes that occur on radiographs of skeletally immature individuals at least 2 years after transphyseal anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR).

Materials And Methods: Skeletally immature patients who underwent transphyseal ACLR were recruited to complete postoperative assessment at ≥ 2 years. The dimensions of tibial and femoral bone tunnels, position of graft fixation devices, and presence of growth arrest were assessed on radiographs, and pain visual analog and International Knee Documentation Committee scores were obtained. Paired t tests were used for comparisons.

Results: Nine patients were included with an average follow-up of 4.6 years postoperatively. There were no cases of premature physeal closure postoperatively and clinical outcome measures were excellent in all patients. The length of the intra-articular portion of anterior cruciate ligament graft increased postoperatively (P = 0.01). Distance between the tibial hardware and proximal tibial physis also increased over time on anteroposterior (P = 0.001) and lateral (P = 0.003) radiographs. However, the distance between the femoral hardware and distal femoral physis was unchanged and in five patients was associated with proximal femoral tunnel enlargement.

Conclusion: Proximal femoral tunnel expansion and lack of proximal migration of the femoral button were seen in more than half of our patients. However, these findings had no detrimental effects on clinical outcome measures or remaining skeletal growth.