Dr. Marx and his colleagues analyzed data from the New York State Department of Health, including all hospital and surgery center procedures in New York from 1997-2006 from surgeons who performed their first ACL surgery in 1997 or later. The data included 12,778 surgeries.
The study found that:
• Patients within the first 10 cases were around five times more likely to undergo a second ACL reconstruction than if the patient had been the surgeon’s 150th case or later.
• Patients who were cases 11-60 cases were 3.7 times more likely to have a second ACL reconstruction.
• Patients who were 61-120 cases were three times more likely to have a second ACL reconstruction.
• Patient who were 121-150 cases were 1.4 times more likely to have a second ACL reconstruction.
The study also reported that undergoing a fellowship in orthopedic surgery didn’t make the learning curve less steep.
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