Multirater Agreement of the Causes of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction Failure
Authors: Matava Matthew J. , Arciero Robert A. , Baumgarten Keith M. , Carey James L. , DeBerardino Thomas M. , Hame Sharon L. , Hannafin Jo A. , Miller Bruce S. , Nissen Carl W. , Taft Timothy N. , Wolf Brian R. , Wright Rick W. ,   The MARS Group, Albright John P. , Allen Christina R. , Amendola Annunziato , Anderson Allen F. , Andrish Jack T. , Annunziata Christopher C. , Arciero Robert A. , Bach Bernard R. , Baker Champ L. , Bartolozzi Arthur R. , Baumgarten Keith M. , Bechler Jeffery R. , Berg Jeffrey H. , Bernas Geoffrey A. , Brockmeier Stephen F. , Brophy Robert H. , Bush-Joseph Charles A. , Butler J. Brad , Campbell John D. , Carey James L. , Carpenter James E. , Cole Brian J. , Cooper Daniel E. , Cooper Jonathan M. , Cox Charles L. , Creighton R. Alexander , Dahm Diane L. , David Tal S. , DeBerardino Thomas M. , Dunn Warren R. , Flanigan David C. , Frederick Robert W. , Ganley Theodore J. , Gatt Charles J. , Gecha Steven R. , Giffin James Robert , Haas Amanda K. , Hame Sharon L. , Hannafin Jo A. , Harner Christopher D. , Harris Norman Lindsay , Hechtman Keith S. , Hershman Elliott B. , Hoellrich Rudolf G. , Hosea Timothy M. , Huston Laura J. , Johnson David C. , Johnson Timothy S. , Jones Morgan H. , Kaeding Christopher C. , Kamath Ganesh V. , Klootwyk Thomas E. , Lantz Brett (Brick) A. , Levy Bruce A. , Ma C. Benjamin , Maiers G. Peter , Mann Barton , Marx Robert G. , Matava Matthew J. , Mathien Gregory M. , McAllister David R. , McCarty Eric C. , McCormack Robert G. , Miller Bruce S. , Nissen Carl W. , O’Neill Daniel F. , Owens Brett D. , Parker Richard D. , Purnell Mark L. , Ramappa Arun J. , Rauh Michael A. , Rettig Arthur C. , Sekiya Jon K. , Shea Kevin G. , Sherman Orrin H. , Slauterbeck James R. , Smith Matthew V. , Spang Jeffrey T. , Svoboda Steven J. , Taft Timothy N. , Tenuta Joachim J. , Tingstad Edwin M. , Vidal Armando F. , Viskontas Darius G. , White Richard A. , Williams James S. , Wolcott Michelle L. , Wolf Brian R. , York James J. , Harris David C. , Patel Kushal , Pearson David , Schutzman Jake , Tarabichi Majd , Ying David 
Published: December 2014

Background:

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction failure occurs in up to 10% of cases. Technical errors are considered the most common cause of graft failure despite the absence of validated studies. Limited data are available regarding the agreement among orthopaedic surgeons regarding the causes of primary ACL reconstruction failure and accuracy of graft tunnel placement.

Hypothesis:

Experienced knee surgeons have a high level of interobserver reliability in the agreement about the causes of primary ACL reconstruction failure, anatomic graft characteristics, and tunnel placement.

Study Design:

Cohort study (diagnosis); Level of evidence, 3.

Methods:

Twenty cases of revision ACL reconstruction were randomly selected from the Multicenter ACL Revision Study (MARS) database. Each case included the patient’s history, standardized radiographs, and a concise 30-second arthroscopic video taken at the time of revision demonstrating the graft remnant and location of the tunnel apertures. All 20 cases were reviewed by 10 MARS surgeons not involved with the primary surgery. Each surgeon completed a 2-part questionnaire dealing with each surgeon’s training and practice, as well as the placement of the femoral and tibial tunnels, condition of the primary graft, and the surgeon’s opinion as to the causes of graft failure. Interrater agreement was determined for each question with the kappa coefficient and the prevalence-adjusted, bias-adjusted kappa (PABAK).

Results:

The 10 reviewers have been in practice an average of 14 years and have performed at least 25 ACL reconstructions per year, and 9 were fellowship trained in sports medicine. There was wide variability in agreement among knee experts as to the specific causes of ACL graft failure. When participants were specifically asked about technical error as the cause for failure, interobserver agreement was only slight (PABAK = 0.26). There was fair overall agreement on ideal femoral tunnel placement (PABAK = 0.55) but only slight agreement on whether a femoral tunnel was too anterior (PABAK = 0.24) and fair agreement on whether it was too vertical (PABAK = 0.46). There was poor overall agreement for ideal tibial tunnel placement (PABAK = 0.17).

Conclusion:

This study suggests that more objective criteria are needed to accurately determine the causes of primary ACL graft failure as well as the ideal femoral and tibial tunnel placement in patients undergoing revision ACL reconstruction.