Risk Factors for Manipulation Under Anesthesia And/or Lysis of Adhesions After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction

Background: In the currently published literature, a higher risk for developing arthrofibrosis after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction has been reported for female patients, adolescents, early surgery or concomitant procedures, and the use of a patellar tendon autograft. There is a lack of evidence regarding other graft choices or factors.

Hypothesis: Multiple risk factors will play a significant role in the development of arthrofibrosis after ACL reconstruction. Specifically, we hypothesized that the risk of manipulation under anesthesia (MUA) and/or lysis of adhesions (LOA) would be affected by graft choice and patient demographic factors.

Study Design: Case-control study; Level of evidence, 3.

Methods: The charts of all patients who underwent ACL reconstruction over a 10-year period at a single academic institution were queried from an electronic medical record database and reviewed at a minimum of 6 months after ACL reconstruction, with the collection of demographic and surgical data. The relative risk for undergoing MUA and/or LOA was calculated for each analyzed risk factor.

Results: A total of 2424 ACL reconstructions were included, with a chart review at a mean of 56.7 months after surgery (range, 7.6-124.0 months). The rate of MUA and/or LOA for arthrofibrosis was 4.5%. A statistically significantly increased relative risk was found for infection (5.45), hematoma requiring evacuation (3.55), ACL reconstruction with meniscal repair (2.83), use of a quadriceps tendon autograft (2.68), age <18 years (2.39), multiple concomitant procedures (1.69), contact injury (1.62), female sex (1.60), and surgery within 28 days of injury (1.53), and a statistically significantly decreased relative risk was found for revision ACL reconstruction (0.30), age >25 years (0.34), and use of a tibialis anterior allograft (0.36). In the multivariate regression model, the use of a quadriceps tendon autograft ( = .00007), infection ( = .00126), and concomitant meniscal repair ( = .00194) were independent risk factors, whereas revision ACL reconstruction ( = .0024) was an independent protective factor.

Conclusion: Graft type, infection, concomitant meniscal repair, and primary reconstruction are significant risk factors for undergoing MUA or LOA after ACL reconstruction.