Effect on Patient-Reported Outcome of Debridement or Microfracture of Concomitant Full-Thickness Cartilage Lesions in Anterior Cruciate Ligament-Reconstructed Knees: A Nationwide Cohort Study from Norway and Sweden of 357 Patients with 2-Year Follow-up

Methods: 644 patients with a primary unilateral ACL reconstruction and a concomitant full-thickness cartilage lesion treated simultaneously by debridement (n=78) or microfracture (n=88), or receiving no treatment (n=191) of the cartilage lesion, registered in the Norwegian and the Swedish National Knee Ligament Registry during 2005-2008 were included. Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) was used to measure patient-reported outcome. At a mean follow-up of 2.1 years (SD, 0.2) after surgery, 357 (55%) patients completed the KOOS. Linear regression analyses were used to evaluate the effect of debridement or microfracture on KOOS. The multiple regression analyses were adjusted for gender, age, previous knee surgery, time from injury to surgery, concomitant ligament injury, concomitant meniscal lesion(s), type of ACL graft, area of cartilage lesion, ICRS grade of cartilage lesion, location of cartilage lesion and preoperative KOOS scores.