Caracterización de los pacientes con lesión del ligamento cruzado anterior tratados con artroscopia en la Clínica Santa Ana, Cuenca-Ecuador.

Background: Rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is a devastating injury that affects the level of physical activity of the patient and can limit the quality of life. Objective: To determine the characteristics of the injury of the anterior cruciate ligament and associated factors by arthroscopy in young adult patients at the Santa Ana Clinic, from January through June of 2016. Methodology: A quantitive, descriptive and transversal study was executed, it was performed in 61 young adult patients who attended the traumatology unit at the Santa Ana Clinic. As technique, a survey was used to collect data such as age, sex, sport practice, diagnose method, etc., based on the direct interview and data collection of the clinical history. The tabulation and analysis of the information was carried out through the statistical program, SPSS version 19.0. Results: The prevalent gender was male (91.1%), 75% of the patients presented a previous traumatic injury, knee block (47.5%) and everyone had knee instability. The meniscal lesion associated with the rupture the ligament was observed in 90% of the cases. A statistical association was found between the practice of the sport and the presence of previous injury in the affected knee. Conclusion: There is a clear association between the sport practice and the ACL injury, which must be treated by arthroscopy for a ligament pasty with the purpose of avoiding episodes of joint instability during physical activity allowing the patient to recover their daily activities with complete safety, avoiding future complications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]