Bilateral simultaneous anterior cruciate ligament injury: a case report and national survey of orthopedic surgeon management preference

Abstract

Unilateral anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear is a common injury seen by sports medicine orthopedic surgeons. However, a bilateral simultaneous ACL injury is extremely rare and has been reported only three times in the literature. We present a young female skier with simultaneous bilateral ACL tears that were managed with staged ACL reconstruction. We then conducted a nationwide survey (United States) to determine the prevalence of simultaneous bilateral ACL tear and preferred management strategies by sports medicine orthopedic surgeons. Sports medicine fellowship directors were contacted and asked to send an 8-item survey to colleagues (sports medicine fellowship trained surgeons) asking about overall number of ACL reconstructions performed, number of bilateral simultaneous ACL injuries seen and optimal management strategies of such an injury. Out of 43 responses, only 22 (51.2%) surgeons had seen a bilateral simultaneous ACL injury. Of these, 16 (76.2%) preferred staged reconstruction. Graft choice was mixed between autograft and allograft, but a large majority preferred either patellar tendon autograft (58%) or hamstring autograft (41%) were the most common choice. Staged reconstruction is the treatment of choice by surgeons surveyed in our study.

Keywords: anterior cruciate ligament; bilateral anterior cruciate ligament injury; sports medicine.

Figure 1.

Experience of orthopedic sports medicine specialists with simultaneous bilateral anterior cruciate ligament injuries.

Figure 2.

Results of a national survey of orthopedic sports medicine specialists’ preferences for treatment of simultaneous bilateral anterior cruciate ligament injuries.