Treatment strategies for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries continue to evolve. Evidence supporting best-practice guidelines for the management of ACL injury is to a large extent based on studies with low-level evidence. An international consensus group of experts was convened to collaboratively advance toward consensus opinions regarding the best available evidence on operative versus nonoperative treatment for ACL injury. The purpose of this study was to report the consensus statements on operative versus nonoperative treatment of ACL injuries developed at the ACL Consensus Meeting Panther Symposium 2019. There were 66 international experts on the management of ACL injuries, representing 18 countries, who were convened and participated in a process based on the Delphi method of achieving consensus. Proposed consensus statements were drafted by the scientific organizing committee and session chairs for the 3 working groups. Panel participants reviewed preliminary statements before the meeting and provided initial agreement and comments on the statement via online survey. During the meeting, discussion and debate occurred for each statement, after which a final vote was then held. Ultimately, 80% agreement was defined a priori as consensus. A total of 11 of 13 statements on operative versus nonoperative treatment of ACL injury reached consensus during the symposium. Overall, 9 statements achieved unanimous support, 2 reached strong consensus, 1 did not achieve consensus, and 1 was removed because of redundancy in the information provided. In highly active patients engaged in jumping, cutting, and pivoting sports, early anatomic ACL reconstruction is recommended because of the high risk of secondary meniscal and cartilage injuries with delayed surgery, although a period of progressive rehabilitation to resolve impairments and improve neuromuscular function is recommended. For patients who seek to return to straight-plane activities, nonoperative treatment with structured, progressive rehabilitation is an acceptable treatment option. However, with persistent functional instability, or when episodes of giving way occur, anatomic ACL reconstruction is indicated. The consensus statements derived from international leaders in the field will assist clinicians in deciding between operative and nonoperative treatment with patients after an ACL injury.

Hamstring (HS) muscle injuries are the most common injury in sports. They are correlated to long rehabilitations and have a great tendency to recur. The HS consist of the long head of the biceps femoris, semitendinosus, and semimembranosus. The patient's clinical presentation depends on the characteristics of the lesion, which may vary from strain to avulsions of the proximal insertion. The most recognized risk factor is a previous injury. Magnetic resonance imaging is the method of choice for the injury diagnosis and classification. Many classification systems have been proposed; the current classifications aim to describe the injury and correlate it to the prognosis. The treatment is conservative, with the use of anti-inflammatory drugs in the acute phase followed by a muscle rehabilitation program. Proximal avulsions have shown better results with surgical repair. When the patient is pain free, shows recovery of strength and muscle flexibility, and can perform the sport's movements, he/she is able to return to play. Prevention programs based on eccentric strengthening of the muscles have been indicated both to prevent the initial injury as well as preventing recurrence.

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ObjectiveTo evaluate the diameter of the flexor tendons in preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations and compare this with the diameter of the graft obtained intraoperatively.MethodsThis was a retrospective longitudinal epidemiological study. Forty-four patients were eligible for the study and their MRI examinations and surgical data were evaluated. The tendons were measured on MRI across their largest diameter in the axial plane, using the medial epicondyle of the femur as the slice level. In the surgery, routine graft preparation was performed, consisting of folding the gracilis and semitendinosus tendons to form a four-strand graft. Its measurement was recorded.ResultsTo evaluate the association between the variables, Pearson's correlation coefficient was estimated. A significant correlation was found between the measurements of the gracilis and semitendinosus tendons and the final diameter of the graft (p < 0.001). A ROC curve was fitted to the sum of the tendon diameters in order to determine a cutoff point associated with the graft diameter (≤8 mm or >8 mm). If the sum was greater than 5.28 mm, the chance of obtaining a graft larger than 8 mm would be 75%.ConclusionMeasurement of the diameters of the gracilis and semitendinosus tendons through a preoperative MRI examination is a simple and effective way to predict the final size of the graft to be used in ACL reconstruction surgery.