to Either Knee Within 5 Years After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction

The incidence of suffering a subsequent anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury after having an ACL reconstruction has not been studied extensively. There are 2 previous studies that prospectively evaluated the incidence of injury to either knee after ACL reconstruction.11,18 Wright et al18 evaluated the risk of ACL injury to either knee within the first 2 years after surgery in 235 patients who had follow-up data and who had surgery performed by multiple surgeons using a variety of graft sources. Salmon et al,11 in a group of 675 patients, evaluated the incidence of ACL injury to either knee within 5 years after surgery and evaluated the risk of injury related to activity level, graft source, intra-articular injuries, and sex. Both studies concluded that incidence of injury to either knee after ACL reconstruction is similar. What is still unknown is if there are differences between men and women as to which knee becomes injured after surgery based specifically on age and activity level and if the timing of the return to activities is related to subse-quent injury. The purpose of this study was to determine the incidence of subsequent injury to either the reconstructed ACL graft or the ACL in the opposite normal knee within 5 years of an ACL reconstruction using a bone-patellar tendon-bon