Patient-Reported Outcome Measures Following Surgical Intervention for Pediatric Sports-Related Injuries to the Knee: a Systematic Review

Purpose of Review Increased sports participation and early specialization has contributed to an increase in surgically managed musculoskeletal injuries to the knee in youth athletes. Established patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures have been extensively reported in adult patients to assess outcomes following sports-related knee surgery. However, current PRO measures for pediatric patients undergoing surgery for sports-related injuries have not been well-described. Recent Findings Strong emphasis has been placed on patient-reported outcomes in recent years, and surgeons have identified many different scoring systems that could be used for sports-related knee injuries in children and adolescents. Recent research has shown that substantial variability exists in the reporting of PRO measures assessing outcomes following surgical management of sports-related knee injuries in pediatric patients. With a paucity of studies using PRO measures in surgically managed pediatric knee injuries, only procedures involving the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and medial patellofemoral ligament (MPFL) showed preference for particular systems. Pediatric ACL procedures predominantly use the International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) scoring system, while MPFL procedures predominantly use the Kujala scoring system. Further studies are necessary to determine preferred and appropriate patient-reported outcome measures for specific sports-related knee procedures in pediatric patients.