Abstract des Autors

Since 1970 more and more studies appeared concerning previously rare ACL tears in children and adolescents. The incidence, according to arthroscopic findings in this age-group, is from 0,5% (8) to 3.3% (15) with the majority being only partial ruptures. The deciding factor in therapy is the condition of the epiphyseal growth plate. In the Department of Sportsurgery of the National Institute of Sports Medicine the authors treated 88 patients younger than 18 years of age between January 1, 1989 and December 31, 1991. This midterm follow-up study contains 62 patients. There were 39 girls and 23 boys, with the mean age at diagnosis being 15.9 years, and 14.8 years at the time of injury. In the surgically treated group the results were 89.9 on Lysholm and 82.3 on OAK scales with 2 patients needing reoperation, while in the conservatively treated group the scores were 82.5 on Lysholm and 83.1 on OAK scales with 9 patients later needing surgery due to instability. In addition to noting the conservative method used at their department and the present surgical techniques, this article compares the results of refixed-augmented cases with those cases using semitendinosus and gracilis tendon grafts for ACL replacement. In the previous group the results were 83.5 Lysholm and 76.5 OAK points, in the later group 92 Lysholm and 86.2 OAK points. Verf.-Referat