NCT05747079

Brief Summary

Currently, most patients with an anterior cruciate ligament injury undergo surgery. There is a general belief that surgical reconstruction is necessary to safely return to sports and to prevent early knee osteoarthritis or additional meniscus injuries. But there is insufficient scientific evidence to support this belief. Moreover, several studies show that surgical reconstruction of the cruciate ligament does not guarantee successful return to sports or the prevention of osteoarthritis and secondary meniscus injuries. Therefore, immediate surgery after an anterior cruciate ligament injury is questioned. So far, only two RCTs (KANON study and COMPARE study) have assessed this, and they could not show that immediate reconstruction is an added value (in terms of symptoms, knee function, activity level, osteoarthritis or additional meniscal injuries) compared to a conservative approach consisting of rehabilitation and late surgery for persistent knee instability. Therefore, this additional multicenter RCT, aims to 1) verify these results and 2) to identify predictors that predict which patients in the conservative group will not require late surgery. This has not been investigated to date. It is suspected that factors such as symptoms, strength, findings on the MRI scan and psychological factors may play a role in whether or not a patient will be able to successfully rehabilitate without surgical repair. This information is invaluable to physicians because it allows them to decide which treatment is best for the patient.

Trial Health

77
On Track

Trial Health Score

Automated assessment based on enrollment pace, timeline, and geographic reach

Enrollment
280

participants targeted

Target at P75+ for not_applicable

Timeline
22mo left

Started Mar 2023

Longer than P75 for not_applicable

Geographic Reach
1 country

1 active site

Status
recruiting

Health score is calculated from publicly available data and should be used for screening purposes only.

Trial Relationships

Click on a node to explore related trials.

Study Timeline

Key milestones and dates

Study Progress64%
Mar 2023Mar 2028

First Submitted

Initial submission to the registry

February 10, 2023

Completed
18 days until next milestone

First Posted

Study publicly available on registry

February 28, 2023

Completed
2 days until next milestone

Study Start

First participant enrolled

March 2, 2023

Completed
3 years until next milestone

Primary Completion

Last participant's last visit for primary outcome

March 2, 2026

Completed
2 years until next milestone

Study Completion

Last participant's last visit for all outcomes

March 2, 2028

Expected
Last Updated

June 28, 2024

Status Verified

June 1, 2024

Enrollment Period

3 years

First QC Date

February 10, 2023

Last Update Submit

June 27, 2024

Conditions

Keywords

ACLRCTConservative treatmentACL reconstruction

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

  • Clinical effectiveness (long-term)

    Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score - Subscale Quality of Life (score between 0-100, higher scores mean better outcome)

    12 months post-injury

  • Clinical effectiveness (short-term)

    Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score - Subscale Quality of Life (score between 0-100, higher scores mean better outcome)

    7 months post-injury

Secondary Outcomes (1)

  • Prediction analysis to identify patient-specific factors that predict whether (or not) a patient will require delayed surgery

    36 months post-injury

Study Arms (2)

Conservative treatment

EXPERIMENTAL

Rehabilitation and optional delayed ACL reconstruction

Other: RehabilitationProcedure: Optional delayed anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction

Immediate ACL reconstruction

EXPERIMENTAL

Immediate ACL reconstruction + rehabilitation

Other: RehabilitationProcedure: Immediate anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction

Interventions

All patients complete rehabilitation under supervision of their own physiotherapist. The investigators will provide some guidelines and criteria, but it is the physiotherapist's choice how to implement these guidelines in clinical practice.

Conservative treatmentImmediate ACL reconstruction

If a patient complains about persistent symptomatic instability of the knee or the inability to progress in rehabilitation, delayed surgery can be considered. ACL insufficiency induced instability in combination with a positive pivot shift and an additional MRI are needed to confirm the cause of instability. This surgery will not be performed within the first 12 weeks after the ACL injury.

Conservative treatment

No guidelines on type of ACL reconstruction will be imposed to keep the trial pragmatic. The decision of graft type and surgery technique is a clinical decision made by the orthopaedic surgeons of the participating centra. This surgery will be performed within 12 weeks after the ACL injury.

Immediate ACL reconstruction

Eligibility Criteria

Age16 Years+
Sexall
Healthy VolunteersNo
Age GroupsChild (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

  • Rotational trauma to a knee that had no previous serious injury and for which medical advice was sought within 4 weeks after the injury.
  • Medical diagnosis of ACL insufficiency including MRI (both partial and complete ruptures)
  • Minimum of 16 years

You may not qualify if:

  • Participant has a history of a previous ACL injury or knee surgery to the index knee
  • Indication for acute surgery because of related injuries to the knee
  • Female who is pregnant or plans to become pregnant in the first 4 months of the trial. Since MRI assessment cannot be performed.

Contact the study team to confirm eligibility.

Sponsors & Collaborators

Study Sites (1)

UZ Leuven

Leuven, 3000, Belgium

RECRUITING

Related Publications (1)

  • Smeets A, Ghafelzadeh Ahwaz F, Bogaerts S, Berger P, Peers K. Comparison of immediate versus optional delayed surgical repair for treatment of acute anterior cruciate ligament injury through a parallel, multicentric, pragmatic randomized controlled trial - IODA trial. BMC Sports Sci Med Rehabil. 2024 Jan 18;16(1):22. doi: 10.1186/s13102-024-00816-6.

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries

Interventions

Rehabilitation

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Knee InjuriesLeg InjuriesWounds and Injuries

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

AftercareContinuity of Patient CarePatient CareTherapeuticsHealth ServicesHealth Care Facilities Workforce and Services

Central Study Contacts

Study Design

Study Type
interventional
Phase
not applicable
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Masking
SINGLE
Who Masked
OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
Purpose
TREATMENT
Intervention Model
PARALLEL
Sponsor Type
OTHER
Responsible Party
SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

First Submitted

February 10, 2023

First Posted

February 28, 2023

Study Start

March 2, 2023

Primary Completion

March 2, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

March 2, 2028

Last Updated

June 28, 2024

Record last verified: 2024-06

Locations