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The ESSKA paediatric anterior cruciate ligament monitoring initiative

  • Knee
  • Published:
Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy Aims and scope

Abstract

Purpose

To survey and describe the treatment of paediatric anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries performed by orthopaedic surgeons affiliated with the European Society for Sports Traumatology, Knee Surgery and Arthroscopy (ESSKA).

Methods

A closed e-survey was submitted to all registered members and affiliates of ESSKA in July 2013. All recipients were invited to participate in the survey by answering 34 questions online. The list of potential respondents was extracted from the ESSKA office database.

Results

Invitation was sent to 2236 ESSKA members and affiliates, and received 491 (22 %) unique responses. Among the respondents, 445 (91 %) were orthopaedic surgeons, with 354 (72 %) stating that they were involved in treatment of paediatric ACL injuries. The main findings were that there are substantial differences with regard to preferred treatment algorithms, surgical techniques and long-term follow-up procedures. The summed estimate of skeletally immature children with ACL injury seen by the responders in 2012 was minimum 1923 individuals, and a minimum of 102 clinically relevant post-operative growth disturbances were registered.

Conclusion

The present survey documents that the incidences of paediatric ACL injuries and idiopathic growth disturbances may be higher than previously estimated. Treatment algorithms and surgical techniques are highly diverse, and consensus could not be identified. It is worrying that only half the surgeons reported to follow-up children until skeletal maturity after surgical treatment. The results of this survey highlight the importance of international multicentre studies on paediatric ACL treatment and the development of an outcome registry to enable prospective data collections.

Level of evidence

IV.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, PB 4014, Ullevål Stadion, 0806, Oslo, Norway

    Håvard Moksnes & Lars Engebretsen

  2. Norwegian Olympic Elite Sports Program (Olympiatoppen), Oslo, Norway

    Håvard Moksnes

  3. Orthopedic Department, Oslo University Hospital, Kirkeveien 166, 0401, Oslo, Norway

    Lars Engebretsen

  4. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Centre Hospitalier Luxembourg, Clinique d’Eich. 78, rue d’Eich, 1460, Luxembourg, Luxembourg

    Romain Seil

  5. Sports Medicine Research Laboratory, Luxembourg Institute of Health, 78 rue d’Eich, 1460, Luxembourg, Luxembourg

    Romain Seil

Authors
  1. Håvard Moksnes
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  2. Lars Engebretsen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Håvard Moksnes.

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Moksnes, H., Engebretsen, L. & Seil, R. The ESSKA paediatric anterior cruciate ligament monitoring initiative. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc 24, 680–687 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-015-3746-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-015-3746-x

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