Patient Understanding, Expectations, Outcomes, and Satisfaction Regarding Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries and Surgical Management

Patient satisfaction has become an increasingly important outcome metric in orthopaedics and medicine in general as many initiatives at both the state and national levels aim to improve the efficiency and quality of health care. Anterior cruciate ligament injuries are among the most common injuries in orthopaedics, with anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) surgery consistently reported as one of the most frequently performed procedures by orthopaedic surgeons. Patient-reported outcomes are frequently used to evaluate outcomes from the patient's perspective, and many physicians also ask patients about their satisfaction with treatment. A growing volume of literature has investigated the relation between preoperative patient expectations and postoperative patient satisfaction. The quality of online resources, patient expectations for ACLR, and factors associated with and/or predictive of either poor or good to excellent outcomes after surgery are described. This article critically reviews the orthopaedic literature on this important topic and identifies variables that influence patient expectations and satisfaction to help treating physicians better counsel and evaluate patients and ultimately improve outcomes of and satisfaction with ACLR surgery.