The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Appropriate Use Criteria on the Management of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries.

T hese Appropriate Use Criteria (AUC) for the Management of Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) Injuries are based on a review of the available literature regarding the treatment and prevention of ACL injuries as well as a list of clinical patient scenarios constructed by an expert Writing Panel and voted on by a separate multidisciplinary Voting Panel. The AUC development methods are adapted from the RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Method (RAM). The full Appropriate Use Criteria for the Management of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries, along with the Appropriate Use Criteria tables, final appropriateness ratings, and a list of panel members, can be accessed on the AAOS website at http://www.aaos.org/auc. The ACL AUC is also available as a web-based application; to access this application, please visit http://www.orthoguidelines.org/auc. Members of the Writing Panel developed a list of fifty-six patient scenarios regarding ACL injury treatment and forty-eight patient scenarios regarding ACL injury prevention based on the identified patient indications (Tables I and II) and defined subclassifications along with six treatments and one prevention intervention (Tables III and IV), for a total of 352 ACL injury treatment voting items and forty-eight ACL injury prevention voting items (fifty-six scenarios times ten treatments [minus 208 treatments options thatwere not applicable in all cases, depending on the status of the physis], and forty-eight scenarios times one treatment). The Writing Panel reviewed these scenarios and treatments to ensure that they were representative of patients and scenarios clinicians are likely to encounter. Each independent panel member was given the opportunity to suggest potential modifications to the content or structure of the Writing Panel materials. The Writing Panel provided final determination of