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 JUNE 30, 2010 Knee Surgery Does Not Reduce the Risk of Osteoarthritis You've torn the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) or cartilage in your knee, and you need surgery to repair it. Will the surgery prevent you from developing knee osteoarthritis? Unfortunately, the answer is "No." Knee osteoarthritis, which affects more than 9 million Americans, typically develops gradually over years. Symptoms include pain, stiffness, swelling, and reduction in knee mobility. The ACL, one of four ligaments that connect the bones in the knee, is the most commonly injured ligament. Strain on the outside of the knee can lead to an overstretched or torn ACL. About half of ACL injuries also cause damage to other areas of the knee, including a wedge-shaped piece of cartilage that acts as a shock absorber for the knee joints, called the meniscus. Often, surgery is the best way to repair these injuries. Tears of the ACL or knee cartilage increase the risk of developing specific types of knee osteoarthritis, according to a new Dutch study published online today in the journal Radiology. What's worse, after following 326 patients for a decade after their initial injuries were diagnosed using MRI, the researchers from the Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands found that localized knee osteoarthritis was apparent in the patients whether they had surgical repairs or no surgery. Osteoarthritis is the wear-and-tear degeneration of the knee, and can be aggravated by an injury to the knee. Anti-inflammatory agents can help ease any pain. If an x-ray reveals that you have a large amount of debris in the knee, arthroscopic surgery can clean out the joint and provide some relief for up to a few years. |
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