Evaluation of Factors Associated With Short-term Failure After Primary Isolated PCL Reconstruction: A Study of Patients From the Swedish and Norwegian Knee Ligament Registries

2025

Factors Affecting Short-term Failure After PCL Reconstruction

Sample size: 189 publication 10 minutes Evidence: moderate

Author Information

Author(s): Zsidai Bálint MD, Winkler Philipp W. MD, Naarup Eric MD, MSc, Olsson Ebba MSc, Horvath Alexandra MD, PhD, MSc, Moatshe Gilbert MD, PhD, Lind Martin MD, PhD, Musahl Volker MD, Hamrin Senorski Eric PT, PhD, Samuelsson Kristian MD, PhD, MSc

Primary Institution: Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

Hypothesis

What factors are associated with total failure at 2 years after primary isolated PCL reconstruction?

Conclusion

Patients with isolated primary PCL reconstruction had a high rate of short-term clinical failure, particularly those with traffic-related injuries.

Supporting Evidence

Traffic-related injury was associated with a >6-fold increased odds of PCL reconstruction failure.
The rate of 2-year surgical failure was 5.8%, while clinical failure was 45.0%.
Baseline KOOS QoL was negatively associated with PCL-R failure risk.

Takeaway

This study found that many patients who had surgery to fix their knee ligament didn't do well after two years, especially if their injury was from a car accident.

Methodology

Patients with primary isolated PCL reconstruction from two registries were analyzed for failure rates and associated risk factors using logistic regression.