ArticleKnee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA2026
Delayed reconstruction is associated with higher rates of medial meniscus and chondral injury following anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury: A New Zealand ACL registry study.
Article in Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Risk factor for knee cartilage damage in patients with anterior cruciate ligament rupture.Medicine · 2026Observational
- Clinical and Donor-site Outcomes of Full-thickness Peroneus Longus Autograft in Arthroscopic Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction: A Prospective Indian Cohort Study.Journal of orthopaedic case reports · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeEarly reconstruction for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture may be controversial, with some clinicians opting for a trial of non-operative management first. The impact of delayed surgery on outcomes is unclear, but it may be associated with an increase in secondary intra-articular pathology involving the menisci and cartilage. This study aimed to analyze the association between the timing of surgery and outcomes, including revision ACL reconstruction, concomitant meniscal and chondral injuries.
methodsProspective data recorded in the New Zealand ACL Registry were analyzed. Primary ACL reconstructions performed between April 2014 and December 2022 were included. Timing of surgery was categorized into five groups: ≤6 weeks, 6 weeks to 3 months, 3-6 months, 6-12 months and >12 months. Revision rates and incidence of concomitant meniscal and chondral injury were compared between the five groups of surgical timing.
resultsA total of 15,586 primary ACL reconstructions were analyzed, of which 1263 were performed within 6 weeks (8%), 3718 between 6 weeks to 3 months (24%), 5129 between 3 and 6 months (33%), 3223 between 6 and 12 months (21%) and 2253 more than 12 months (14%). The incidence of medial meniscal tears was greatest when surgery was delayed 6-12 months (40%, adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.1, p = 0.01) and more than 12 months after injury (53%, aOR = 2.0, p < 0.001). Delayed surgery more than 3 months was associated with an increasing incidence of chondral injury (aOR > 1.3, p < 0.001). Revision rates were lowest in patients who underwent delayed surgery more than 12 months after injury (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 0.6, p < 0.001), but differences in activity levels, age, sex and graft choice were noted.
conclusionDelayed ACL reconstruction is associated with a greater incidence of concomitant medial meniscal and chondral injury and should be considered when trialling non-operative management for ACL rupture. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level II.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.