Pediatric ACL: Understanding Treatment Options

Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injuries are being seen with increased frequency in pediatric and adolescent patients. The management of these injuries is controversial and includes nonoperative treatment and operative treatment with various surgical techniques. Pediatric ACL: Understanding Treatment Outcomes (PLUTO) is a multi-center, prospective cohort study. Specific aims of PLUTO are to evaluate the safety and comparative effectiveness of non-operative treatment, as well as four operative treatments including (1) transphyseal ACL reconstruction (2) partial transphyseal ACL reconstruction, (3) physeal-sparing epiphyseal ACL reconstruction using the Anderson technique, and (4) physeal-sparing ACL reconstruction using the Micheli/Kocher technique in prepubescent and pubescent skeletally immature patients. Accrual will take place over eight years at 9 pediatric sports medicine centers. Post-treatment outcome assessment will be performed at 6-9 months, 1 year, and 2, 5, and 10 years after treatment , including functional outcome, activity level, health-related quality of life, graft survivorship, knee stability, knee motion, and growth disturbance.