Arthroscopy in acute injuries of anterior cruciate-deficient knees: fresh and old intraarticular lesions.

Sixty-four patients out of a much larger population who presented within 2 weeks of an acute injury to the knee were found at arthroscopy to have either a chronic tear or chronic incompetent anterior cruciate ligament (group I, 32 patients) or to have an acutely torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) (group II, 32 patients). Arthroscopy of both groups allowed the author to compare and contrast the lesions found in each group. Chondromalacia of the femorotibial joint is significantly more frequent in chronic ACL-deficient knees (p less than 0.05), and there is a tendency to degenerative meniscus lesions and chondromalacia patella in these knees too.