Forty-nine patients who had a complete tear and forty-one who had a
partial tear of the anterior cruciate ligament were examined as regards
long-term healing. All had had a positive clinical diagnosis just after the
injury, which was confirmed in the majority under anesthesia, at
arthrotomy, on arthroscopy, or with a combination of these methods. The
re-examination was performed an average of eight years after the injury.
Besides a functional and objective evaluation, radiographic examination and
evaluations of isokinetic and isometric strength were made. The
multidimensional analysis revealed that in an unselected population the
long-term results of the complete tears were poor, because of chronic
instability. In many, reconstructive operations were needed, and
post-traumatic arthritis was common. In the patients who had a partial
tear, the results were quite good even if the stability of the knees had
not improved when compared with the initial post-traumatic status.
Conservative treatment of complete tears of the anterior cruciate ligament
cannot be recommended as a treatment of choice, whereas partial tears can
be treated by non-operative methods.