Mid-term results of arthroscopic reconstruction in chronic posterior cruciate ligament instability

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical results of arthroscopic single bundle posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) reconstruction in patients with chronic PCL instability not responding to conservative treatment. 18 patients were available for follow-up with an average elapsed time of 3 years between onset of injury and surgery and an average duration of 3.3 years between reconstruction and evaluation. The clinical results were investigated using the IKDC form, the Tegner rating system, a subjective evaluation, and the VAS for pain rating. The presence of femoral degenerative changes correlated strongly to the elapsed time between injury and operation (P<0.05). Before surgery all patients were graded D (severely abnormal) using the IKDC evaluation form. The final IKDC score at follow-up resulted in grade A (normal) in five patients (28%), grade B (nearly normal) in eight patients (44%), grade C (abnormal) in four patients (22%) and grade D (severely abnormal) in one patient (6%). The VAS score for pain rating revealed very few complaints of pain and it demonstrated a strong correlation between the subjective evaluation and the Tegner rating score (P<0.01). Evaluation of the Tegner score resulted in a significant improvement after surgery when compared to the situation prior to operation (P<0.01). Although there still is some controversy on the indication for treatment of PCL injury, we conclude on the basis of our findings that arthroscopic reconstruction of symptomatic chronic PCL instability, not responding to conservative therapy, can be greatly beneficial.