# FATE OF THE ANTERIOR CRUCIATE INJURED KNEE

> **NIH NIH R01** · KAISER FOUNDATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE · 1989 · $54,929

## Abstract

A common and frequently disabling knee injury sustained in
sporting activities is a tear of the anterior cruciate ligament
(ACL).  The choice of treatment remains a dilemma.  Ligament
repair and/or reconstruction seldom return the knee to normal
function, involve a year or more rehabilitation period and have a
significant failure and complication rate.  Which patients should
be repaired and/or reconstructed and which patients should be
managed without ligament surgery?  What is the fate of the ACL
disrupted knee?  What is the level of disability after an ACL
injury?  What factors correlate with disability, repeated injury
and joint deterioration:  age, sex, joint laxity, associated joint
pathology, sports participation, etc.?

Between June of 1981 and July of 1986 we entered three hundred
and eighty-seven patients into a "Fate of the ACL Injured Knee"
study.  All patients included in the study presented with their first
knee injury within fourteen days of the injury event, had a
hemarthrosis and were suspected of being an ACL injury.

Two hundred and seventy-two of the patients had sustained an
anterior cruciate ligament tear.  The initial evaluation included
A/P instrumented laxity examination with the MedMetric KT1000
knee ligament arthrometer.  Two hundred and fifty of the patients
(73%) had an arthroscopic examination.  Sixty-three of the
patients had an anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction within
month of injury.

We propose to perform follow-up evaluations on all patients in the
"Fate of the ACL Injuried knee" study.  The evaluation will
document the patients' level of sports participation, functional
problems in sports, work, and activities of daily living, brace use,
and incidence of subsequent knee injury and surgery.
Anterior/posterior joint laxity will be measured.  Quantifiable
functional knee tests will be performed Radiographic evaluation
and radionuclide imaging of the knee will be used to document
joint pathology.

The objective of the study is to characterize the fate of the ACL
injuried knee, with and without ligament surgery, and to identify
factors that place the patient at risk of further knee injury and
deterioration if not reconstructed.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 3159394
- **Project number:** 5R01AR039359-02
- **Recipient organization:** KAISER FOUNDATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE
- **Principal Investigator:** DALE M DANIEL
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1989
- **Award amount:** $54,929
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1988-05-01 → 1991-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3159394

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 3159394, FATE OF THE ANTERIOR CRUCIATE INJURED KNEE (5R01AR039359-02). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-24 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/3159394. Licensed CC0.

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