Examining the current scope of interventional clinical trials for knee injuries: Review of a clinical trials registry.

PURPOSE: Every clinical trial in the United States has to be registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, which has enabled evaluations of current and discontinued clinical trials in all areas of expertise. Knee injuries are common in all levels of sport, and it is becoming increasingly more important to prevent these at a younger age so they do not affect the person later in life. The purpose of this study was to create a summary of the knee injury interventional clinical trial portfolio.

METHODS

We conducted a cross-sectional study design to assess interventional trials registered at ClinicalTrials.gov from 1 October 2021 to 2024. Intervention type, enrolment population, trial phase, location, injury type and primary outcome were extracted, and associations by trial status were assessed using chi-square tests. Search, extraction and analysis were performed at the Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine at the Cherokee Nation.

RESULTS

During this time, there were 159 interventional knee injury trials active or completed. The most common intervention type was 'Other' (including rehabilitation exercises and new diagnostic tests) (24.5%), followed by procedures (23.3%). The majority of trials were adult-only enrolment compared to only three that were paediatric enrolment only. Most trials were conducted in North America, followed by Europe and Asia. Over half of the clinical trials focused on ACL injuries (58.5%), with osteoarthritis (13.2%) and meniscus injuries (6.9%) as the next most common injury type.

CONCLUSION

Analysis of the ClinicalTrials.gov data permits summarization of the current scope of interventional knee injury trials. The unique techniques being developed currently can help guide physicians looking to implement new interventions into their practices. They can also provide insight into the advancement of interventional clinical trial setup and execution regarding knee injuries, as well as save both patients and insurance companies money in the long term.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: N/A.