Peripheral meniscal tears: MR findings after conservative treatment or arthroscopic repair

Follow-up knee magnetic resonance (MR) examinations were performed on 17 patients (18 menisci) with arthroscopically proved tears of the outer third of the meniscus who were treated either conservatively (six patients) or with surgical repair (11 patients). All patients satisfied accepted clinical orthopedic criteria for meniscal healing. MR examinations obtained 3-27 months after injury revealed persistent signal intensity (grade 3), unchanged from that seen on the preoperative study, in all 15 patients in whom both pre- and postoperative studies were obtained and in three of four menisci that were proved to be healed at second-look arthroscopy. It appears that grade 3 signal from both conservatively treated and repaired menisci may persist long after the tear has become asymptomatic and has presumably healed. The presence of such signal should not be interpreted as necessarily indicating meniscal retear in these patients. Persistent signal intensity at the site of previous injuries may account for some reported cases of disagreement between MR and arthroscopic findings.

Results of arthroscopic meniscectomy

It would appear that arthroscopic partial menisectomy offers as good, if not better, results compared with open meniscectomy. Authors who have compared patients undergoing open meniscectomy with those undergoing arthroscopic meniscectomy have also shown that the other variables and parameters so important to the patient in the early postoperative period weight very heavily in favor of arthroscopic meniscectomy.

Acute anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. Analysis of complications

One hundred fifty-six patients treated with intraarticular anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction were analyzed to determine the incidence of complications. The study group of 31 patients (Group I) was treated with repair or reconstruction of an acute ACL injury. A comparison group of 125 patients had reconstruction for chronic ACL instability (Group II). The patients were evaluated clinically and by roentgenograms. The average follow-up time for the study group was 52.2 months. In Group I, 35% developed fibroarthrosis postoperatively that required arthroscopic lysis of adhesions and manipulation to restore motion. In Group II, only 12% developed this complication. However, developing this complication did not affect a patient's long-term clinical result when properly recognized and promptly treated.

Patellar tracking abnormalities: clinical experience with kinematic MR imaging in 130 patients

A kinematic magnetic resonance (MR) imaging technique for assessment of malalignment of the patella, involving the acquisition of multiple sequential axial images of the patellofemoral joint during the early increments of passive knee flexion, was used to evaluate 130 patients (235 symptomatic patellofemoral joints) showing clinical evidence of having patellar tracking abnormalities. Twenty-three of the patellofemoral joints had undergone previous surgical procedures for patellar realignment. In addition, 14 (28 patellofemoral joints) asymptomatic control subjects were studied. Normal patellar tracking was observed in all of the asymptomatic subjects and in 43 (17%) of the 260 patellofemoral joints in the patient population, 18 (7%) of which were symptomatic. Sixty-nine (26%) of the patellofemoral joints had lateral subluxation of the patella, 106 (41%) had medial subluxation of the patella, 21 (8%) had excessive lateral pressure syndrome, 19 (7%) had lateral-to-medial subluxation of the patella, and two (1%) had dislocation of the patella. Of the 235 patellofemoral joints with suspected abnormalities, 217 (93%) had patellar malalignment. Of the 23 patellofemoral joints that had undergone prior surgery, 20 (87%) had abnormal patellar tracking. Thirteen of 14 (93%) patellofemoral joints that had undergone a prior arthroscopic lateral retinacular release had a medially displaced patella.

Kinematic Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Evaluation of Patellar Tracking

In brief: Kinematic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the patellofemoral joint was r developed to evaluate patellar tracking abnormalities. This technique has several advantages over radiography, eg, it does not expose the patient to ionizing radiation, and it clearly defines the patella and the femoral Cochlea groove without distortion. It also shows the movement of the patella in relation to the trochlea groove at 5° increments of knee flexion up to 30°. This case report demonstrates the value of kinematic MRI in diagnosing excessive lateral pressure syndrome (a frequent cause of knee pain), which cannot be detected by conventional diagnostic 'Paging techniques.

Intraarticular versus intraarticular and extraarticular reconstruction for chronic anterior cruciate ligament instability

One hundred twenty-seven patients were evaluated for the results of surgical stabilization in chronic anterior cruciate ligament instability. Eighty-four patients had been treated with intraarticular reconstruction alone, while 43 patients had been treated with a combination of intraarticular and extraarticular stabilization. Patients were evaluated by questionnaire to assess subjective and functional status by clinical examination of objective findings, and by roentgenograms and instrumented ligamentous stability testing. The follow-up interval averaged 45.2 months for the entire group (range, 24-90 months). Using a 200-point scale, the rating for the group treated with intraarticular reconstruction alone was 169.1, while the average rating for the group treated with combined intraarticular and extraarticular stabilization was 166.2. Overall, an excellent or good result was obtained in 67% of patients in the intraarticular only group and in 70% of the patients in the combined reconstruction group. There were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of changes seen on roentgenograms or in terms of residual laxity measured by instrumented testing. Thus, there is no demonstrable benefit derived from combined intraarticular and extraarticular stabilization procedures for chronic anterior cruciate ligament instability, provided that a well-placed intraarticular substitute of sufficient strength is functional.

Four to ten year followup of unreconstructed anterior cruciate ligament tears

Both operative and nonoperative methods have been advocated for the treatment of ACL tears. However, the optimum management of this injury remains controversial. In the present study, patients treated nonoperatively were evaluated retrospectively 4 to 10 years after ACL tears were documented by arthroscopy and by mild to moderate pivot shifts under anesthesia. Forty-nine patients who underwent arthroscopic evaluation of the knee between 1976 and 1982 were found to have complete tears of the ACL. A mild to moderate pivot shift was present under anesthesia. One or both menisci were torn in two-thirds of the knees, requiring partial meniscectomies. The average age of the patients was 27 years (range, 16 to 46 years). Because of persistent disabling instability, 9 patients (18%) underwent late ACL reconstruction. The remaining 40 patients were evaluated at an average of 5.6 years after documentation of the tear (range, 4 to 10 years). At followup, 25 (62%) of the 40 patients had satisfactory subjective results. Eight of the patients (20%) had returned to their preinjury level of athletic activities without restrictions, and 10 (25%) functioned at the same level but with symptoms, some patients requiring bracing. Seventeen patients (43%) had diminished their level of sports activities, while 5 patients (12%) had given up all sports. Only 2 patients required late meniscectomies. On physical examination, 27 patients (87%) had pivot shifts. Instrumented laxity testing revealed an injured to normal difference of 3.1 mm with a 20 pound force. Radiographic studies were interpreted as normal in 35% of the knees, whereas 65% demonstrated mild degenerative changes.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Arthroscopic "second look" at the GORE-TEX ligament

We performed an arthroscopic "second look" in 21 knees (20 patients) that had arthroscopic implantation of the GORE-TEX prosthesis for chronic ACL insufficiency. Arthroscopy was done on eight knees at the time of screw removal, eight for knee pain, two for giving way, and three for recurrent effusions. The degree of synovial joint reaction, graft synovial ingrowth, and graft rupture was graded. Microscopic examination was carried out on all biopsies of the GORE-TEX ligament. The average patient age was 30 years and the average time interval from original implantation to second look was 11 months. The GORE-TEX was intact in 11 knees, 10% ruptured in 6, and completely ruptured in 4. There was no correlation between number of GORE-TEX strands ruptured and synovial reaction. No particles of the graft were noted in the synovium if the implant was intact, but particles were noted with graft rupture. We conclude that the intact GORE-TEX ligament is an inert substance and does not cause significant joint reaction. Impingement in the intercondylar notch appeared to be the most common cause of graft failure. Further study is critical to determine the natural history of the GORE-TEX ligament and the knees' response to this prosthetic device.

Patellofemoral joint: kinematic MR imaging to assess tracking abnormalities

The patellofemoral joint was imaged with magnetic resonance (MR) in the axial plane while the knee was positioned from 0 degrees to 32 degrees of flexion (nine positions). These multiple sequential images obtained within the early phases of flexion of the knee were viewed in a "cine-loop" format, producing a kinematic study that clearly demonstrated the relationship of the patella to the trochlear groove. Four healthy subjects and one patient with known bilateral subluxing patellae were studied. The preliminary results suggest that kinematic MR imaging of the patellofemoral joint is potentially useful for the evaluation of patellar tracking abnormalities.

Reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament using a torn meniscus

In eighty of 100 patients, reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament using a torn meniscus was successful in restoring stability. The length of follow-up ranged from two to six years and the mean interval from injury to operation was two years. Preoperatively, all but one patient had a positive (2+ or 3+) Lachman test and a positive pivot-shift test. Only ten patients had evidence of major instability, as seen on either test. The result was the same regardless of whether the patient had had a concomitant extra-articular (Ellison) procedure. The results of arthroscopic biopsy in eleven patients did not support the hypothesis that the meniscus underwent metaplasia to ligamentous tissue. Although this procedure yielded results similar to those of other procedures in which autogenous tissues are used to reconstruct the ligament, the meniscus should rarely, if ever, be used for reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament. The procedure is indicated only for patients who, in addition to needing reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament, also have a torn meniscus that would otherwise have to be totally excised.

Oral flecainide pharmacokinetics in patients with impaired renal function

The pharmacokinetics of flecainide acetate were studied in 20 patients with varying degrees of renal impairment following a single oral dose. The patients were divided into two groups, on the basis of renal creatinine clearance (CLCR), for statistical and kinetic analysis. Patients with a CLCR between 4 and 41 mL/min/m2 were designated group 1 and those below 4 mL/min/m2 or unmeasurable because of lack of urine output were designated group 2. In both groups peak plasma flecainide concentrations, time to peak concentrations, and apparent volume of distribution (Vd) were similar to those reported in healthy subjects with normal renal function. The mean flecainide plasma elimination half-lives from both groups 1 and 2 were longer than those previously reported by several investigators in normal subjects. Nine patients in group 1 and seven patients in group 2 had half-lives within the range reported in healthy subjects. Therefore, CLCR alone is not a good predictor of plasma elimination half-life following a single oral dose of flecainide. Although renal clearance of flecainide is significantly reduced in end-stage renal disease (ESRD), total plasma clearance of flecainide (CLflec) was not reduced to the same degree, although there was a significant, modest correlation with CLCR. Less than 1% of the administered oral dose of flecainide was removed during hemodialysis. The relationship between dosage and plasma elimination half-life in patients with ESRD needs further study to evaluate possible dose-dependent kinetics.

Treatment of the anterior cruciate ligament-absent knee with associated meniscal tears. Instrumented testing and clinical evaluation of two patient groups

The UCLA instrumented clinical testing apparatus was used to measure postoperative stiffness and laxity for two groups of patients with documented chronic absence of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and associated meniscal tears. Group 1 consisted of 76 patients (average age, 25 years) who had undergone anterior cruciate substitution using the torn meniscus, and a second group of 34 patients (average age, 31 years) who had partial meniscectomy alone without ACL substitution. Subjective and objective evaluations were significantly higher and symptoms of pain and buckling significantly lower in the substitution group. In addition, 29% of Group 1 and only 7% of Group 2 patients were able to return to their preinjury sports without limitations, while 5% of the former and 12% of the latter could not return to any sport. At 90 degrees of flexion, there were no significant differences in stiffness or laxity between the patient groups. At 20 degrees of flexion and neutral foot rotation, the meniscal substitution group had an average of 1.4 mm less side-to-side laxity difference than the partial meniscectomy patients; 51% of the substituted patients still had an injured knee laxity that was at least 2 mm greater than the uninjured knee, as contrasted to 67% of the partial meniscectomy patients who exceeded this upper limit of the normal range. At 20 degrees, anterior stiffness of the injured knees of the substitution patients was 28% greater than the injured knees of the partial meniscectomy group; 42% of the substituted patients had an injured knee stiffness within the normal range, while only 18% of the partial meniscectomy patients fell within normal limits. There were no statistical correlations of stiffness or laxity values with clinical scores or patient symptomatology in either group.

Electrosurgery in operative arthroscopy

Electrosurgery is a useful tool in the orthopedic procedures outlined, including lateral release, synovial lesions, and shoulder impingement syndrome. The salient positive characteristic of electrosurgery is the capacity to obtain immediate and thorough hemostasis, thereby allowing the patient to begin a rehabilitative program far sooner than with conventional operative techniques. Less hemarthrosis also lowers the level of postoperative pain and the risk of postoperative infection. By becoming familiar with some of the basics of electrosurgery, including equipment and electrosurgical principles, the surgeon and staff can better utilize electrosurgery and be aware of the potential, yet avoidable, complications. The future appears bright for electrosurgery, with new equipment and procedures being developed, but more research is needed to clarify the long-term effects on tissues involved and the clinical results of patients.

Patellar instability: treatment by arthroscopic electrosurgical lateral release

We reviewed the results of arthroscopic lateral release using electrosurgery in 39 patients (45 knees) with a history of recurrent patellar subluxation or dislocation. The average follow-up time was 28 months (range, 24-36). At follow-up, the patients had decreased swelling, instability, and pain. There was an improvement in flexion activities, sports participation, and overall functional ability. Only 20% of the knees had completely normal physical findings: 11.1% of the knees were rated as excellent; 64.4% were improved; and 24.5% were poor. Dislocators had more frequent poor results. The complication rate was 4.4%. There were no postoperative hemathroses. One patient was considered a surgical failure. The technique yields results comparable with those of open extensor realignment procedures and avoids the complications inherent to lateral release in general. The place for this procedure in patellar instability is well-documented.

Failed arthroscopic meniscectomy: prognostic factors for repeat arthroscopic examination

The authors have reviewed 44 patients retrospectively who failed arthroscopic partial meniscectomy. The study attempts to define the chances for success and to identify prognostic factors as these patients return for reoperation. Each patient had a repeat arthroscopic examination from 2 to 60 months after partial meniscectomy (average 19 months). They were reviewed an average of 31 months after reoperation (6 to 60 months), and each completed a subjective questionnaire evaluating the efficacy of their repeat arthroscopic surgery. Seventy-one percent of the patients had improvement with reoperation and were classified as good or excellent. Twelve patients (29%) did not improve and were rated poor. Ten parameters, as recorded before repeat arthroscopic examination, were investigated in an attempt to correlate each with success and to find those that are significant prognostic factors. Age of the patient, number of surgeries on the involved knee, time between arthroscopic examinations, nature of history (acute or chronic), workers' compensation or private insurance status, range of motion on physical examination prior to repeat arthroscopy, and degree of chondromalacia as seen at the first surgery were not found to correlate with the ultimate success of the patient. The presence of mechanical complaints before reoperation was a statistically significant parameter that led to a good or excellent result in 86% of the patients at follow-up. Lateral meniscal pathology seen at first partial meniscectomy gave more favorable results than medial meniscal pathology even if the patient had nonmechanical complaints. A history of reinjury between arthroscopic surgeries is helpful only if positive. In the absence of such a history, no conclusion can be drawn.

Residential health study of families living near the Drake Chemical Superfund site in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania

The Pennsylvania Department of Health conducted a health survey of a group of residents in the Lock Haven area who live in the immediate vicinity of the Drake Superfund site. A control group of residents were selected randomly from the remaining areas of Lock Haven. The study did not indicate the presence of any serious chronic health conditions in the exposed group of residents when compared with the control group. Significantly more individuals in the exposed group than the control group experienced skin problems and sleepiness for at least 1 month prior to the survey, indicative of a possible association between direct human exposure to toxic chemicals from the site and the manifestation of symptoms. The increased prevalence of the two symptoms may also have been caused by factors other than contaminants at the Drake site, e.g., stress, occupational exposure, or other etiologic agents, or it may be a spurious finding due to chance or biased reporting.

Arthroscopy--"no-problem surgery". An analysis of complications in two thousand six hundred and forty cases

In a retrospective review of 3,261 arthroscopic procedures on the knee, 2,640 met the criteria for inclusion in this analysis. The patients' ages ranged from eight to eighty-three years. There were 1,541 male and 1,099 female patients. Eight hundred and ninety-five of the injuries were work-related. A tourniquet was used in 1,175 procedures and the average tourniquet time was thirty minutes. There were 216 complications over-all (8.2 per cent), 126 being designated as major and ninety-seven, as minor. The major complications that were evaluated were infections, hemarthrosis, adhesions, effusions, cardiovascular, neurological, reflex sympathetic dystrophy, and instrument breakage, and the minor complications were difficulties with wound-healing and ecchymosis. Chi-square analysis showed the following factors to be significant (p less than 0.05). Patients with an industrial injury had a higher rate of neurological complications and reflex sympathetic dystrophy. Diagnostic arthroscopy had the lowest over-all complication rate. Partial medical meniscectomy was associated with a higher over-all complication rate and the highest hemarthrosis rate, and partial lateral meniscectomy was associated with the highest rate of instrument breakage. Abrasion arthroplasty had the highest rate of complications of wound-healing, and subcutaneous lateral release was associated with the most adhesions. The sex of the patient and whether or not a tourniquet had been used had no effect on complications. The experience of the surgeon with arthroscopic procedures also had no correlation with the complication rate. Multiple regression analysis showed that two factors (age and, if a tourniquet was used, the tourniquet time) were dominant predictors of complications. From these data, a model was devised for predicting which patients were at risk for complications and their relative levels of risk. Certain complications may be preventable, and for others the risk factors can be reduced. The high-risk patients in our series were fifty years old or older and had a tourniquet time of sixty minutes or longer.

The effect of flecainide acetate, a new antiarrhythmic, on plasma digoxin levels

The possible effect of oral flecainide acetate on steady-state digoxin levels was assessed in 15 healthy men. Each volunteer received digoxin 0.25 mg daily (8 AM) for 22 consecutive days and flecainide 200 mg bid (8 AM and 8 PM) on days 11 through 15. Plasma digoxin and flecainide levels were measured by radioimmunoassay and gas-liquid chromatography methods, respectively. Flecainide levels were within the range associated with suppression of premature ventricular contractions in patients. Mean plasma digoxin levels just before the 8 AM dose were 0.46 ng/mL on days 9 and 10 (baseline), 0.57 ng/mL (P less than .05) on day 13, and 0.49 ng/mL (not significant [NS]) on day 15. Compared with a mean six-hour postdose baseline digoxin level of 0.58 ng/mL, postdose levels were 0.62 ng/mL (NS) and 0.65 ng/mL (P less than .05) on days 13 and 15, respectively. On an average for each subject, predose and six-hour postdose digoxin levels increased by 24 +/- 35% and 13 +/- 19%, respectively, during coadministration. The changes in electrocardiographic intervals and vital signs that occurred during concomitant drug administration were not clinically significant although a slight prolongation of the PR interval was noted in some subjects. Unless plasma digoxin levels are in the upper end of the therapeutic range, changes in magnitude as observed in this study should be clinically inconsequential for most patients.

High-performance liquid chromatographic method for the quantitation of a meta-O-dealkylated metabolite of flecainide acetate, a new antiarrhythmic

A simple, sensitive and selective high-performance liquid chromatographic method has been developed to analyze meta-O-dealkylated flecainide, a major metabolite of flecainide acetate, in human biological fluids. Sample preparation is accomplished through the use of bonded-phase extraction columns and the samples are chromatographed on a reversed-phase system with fluorescence detection. An external calibration method is used for quantitation and the inter-day and intra-day precision and accuracy are good. The method has been used to determine metabolite levels in samples from healthy subjects and patients with arrhythmias or renal impairment.

Actinomycin D-associated lesions mimicking DNA-DNA interstrand crosslinks detected by alkaline elution in cultured mammalian cells

Cultured human fibroblasts were exposed to various concentrations of actinomycin D, a DNA intercalating agent, and studied by various alkaline elution techniques for the presence of DNA lesions. DNA-protein crosslinks increased proportionately with increasing actinomycin D, with 1.53 crosslinks/10(6) nucleotides after 5 micrograms/ml exposure. However, in the single-strand DNA break assay, elution of DNA initially increased as expected with increasing actinomycin D but thereafter decreased, with only 0.09 breaks/10(6) nucleotides detected after 25 micrograms/ml exposure, suggesting the presence of DNA crosslinking. A standard alkaline elution assay for DNA-DNA crosslinking was performed, and lesions which mimicked such crosslinks were detected, with a relative crosslink frequency of 2.30 after 5 micrograms/ml exposure. These actinomycin D-associated lesions disappeared when the alkaline elution procedure was modified to include additional proteinase digestion and use of the detergent sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) in the elution buffer, suggesting that they represented undigested DNA-protein crosslinks or nonspecific protein on the filters inhibiting DNA elution. Greater than ten times as many DNA-protein crosslinks were detected in fibroblasts than the number of single-strand DNA breaks after cellular exposure to actinomycin, even after determining breaks using the modified methodology for decreasing cellular protein interference. The data suggest that the actinomycin-DNA complex is associated with the formation of DNA-protein crosslinks which represent lesions other than endonuclease-associated DNA strand scission.

The role of cerebral cortex in the generation of voluntary saccades: a positron emission tomographic study

The purpose of this study was to define the location and behavior of cerebral structures within the normal human brain that participate in the generation of voluntary saccadic eye movements. Changes in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) during task performance were assumed to reflect like changes in regional neuronal activity induced by the task. The locations of all rCBF changes were described in stereotaxic coordinates. Cerebral blood flow (CBF) was measured with positron emission tomography (PET) and bolus intravenous injection of H2(15)O. The use of H2(15)O with PET allowed six, seven-slice measurements of brain blood flow to be made in rapid sequence for each subject, without removing the subject from the tomograph between scans. Nine paid normal volunteers were studied. The paradigm included three saccadic eye-movement (SEM) conditions, one finger-movement condition and two control conditions (initial and final). The three SEM conditions allowed comparisons to be drawn between targeted versus untargeted SEMs, auditorily cued versus visually cued SEMs, and stochastic versus rhythmic SEMs. All tasks were simple and deterministic in that each movement exactly mirrored the preceding movement: finger flexion then extension, saccade-left then saccade-right. Saccadic eye movements were associated with rCBF increases within the frontal eye fields, the supplementary motor area, and the cerebellum. Finger movements were associated with rCBF changes within the sensorimotor hand areas, the supplementary motor area, and the cerebellum. The frontal eye fields were discrete cortical regions consistently active during the generation of voluntary SEMs and uninfluenced by target presence, type of cue, or task complexity, indicating a predominantly motor function. The supplementary motor area (SMA) was consistently active during all motor tasks and was uninfluenced by the degree of task complexity or stochasticity. A role for SMA in establishing "motor set" during both simple and complex motor tasks is suggested. An anterior-posterior somatotopy was found for SMA-eye (anterior) versus SMA-hand (posterior). Lateral occipital visual association cortex activation was present only during targeted saccadic conditions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Autogeneic anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) anterior reconstruction of the knee. A review

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction with patellar-tendon-bone, semitendinosus/gracilis, iliotibial band, and meniscus have all given "success" rates between 75% and 85% with reasonably short (less than three years) follow-up periods. A 7.9-year average follow-up evaluation of patellar tendon ACL reconstruction would probably represent the overall success rate of the above procedures at 69% good or excellent. All of these procedures require significant dissection and lengthy rehabilitation periods of six months to a year. In attempting to compare these various reconstructions, it is obvious that it will be necessary to develop a consistent and reproducible subjective and objective knee rating system that is presently not used by these authors. Prior to the use of the various prosthetic ACL reconstructions, careful follow-up analysis of the existing body of autogenous ACL reconstructions must be constantly reviewed and assessed in light of the newer data. As Ivar Palmer stated in 1938, "However, it cannot be denied that interferences of this kind are extensive, time-consuming and rather risky, and at the best of times, they cannot result in a restitutio ad integrum."

Arthroscopic anterior cruciate ligament repair: preliminary results and instrumented testing for anterior stability

The authors present their preliminary results of arthroscopic primary repair of anterior cruciate ligament tears performed on five patients, with a mean follow-up time of 9.2 months. All patients were re-evaluated by subjective questionnaire and clinical examination, and tested for anterior drawer at 20 degrees flexion using the KT-1000 Knee Ligament Arthrometer and the UCLA Instrumented Clinical Knee Testing Apparatus. Subjectively, four patients were rated as fair and one as good. The Lachman test was negative in two and trace or mildly positive in three patients. Pivot shift test was negative in all. Instrumented testing demonstrated three patients with increased anterior laxities outside the normal range, and two of these patients also showed reduced anterior stiffnesses which were beyond the normal range. Based on these results, the authors question the feasibility of arthroscopic repair of anterior cruciate ligament tears and suggest a more objective evaluation of this procedure.