Will a validated dynamic short-form outcome measure improve patient responsiveness: A National Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) Injury Registry in Australia

This research comprises part of my PhD investigating ACL PROMs and the development of a new measure to improve patient responsiveness. The outline of my thesis was presented at the September AOA Queensland Branch meeting with the generous support of QORF.

Initial discussions with the Norwegian Knee Ligament Registry (NKLR) were aimed at obtaining access to a large dataset in order to conduct our analysis. Unfortunately, our application was unsuccessful with the NKLR citing logistical and financial barriers leading to a temporary delay in commencing analysis. However, we have subsequently been able to obtain permission for data-handling from the Danish Knee Reconstruction Registry (DKRR).

Professor Martin Lind (Denmark) has recently translated our research proposal and has applied for access to the dataset from the national clinical registry administration. It is anticipated that it will take 3 months to obtain this data (>35,000 encounters). Then we will commence our analysis using complex machine learning (ML) algorithms to determine the predictors of revision ACL surgery and the utility of existing PROMs in ACL injury.

Through collaboration with the DKRR we have also been invited to externally validate a new ACL PROM (KNEES-ACL) which has been developed in Denmark and translated into English after vigorous testing to ensure its content validity. This is a unique opportunity to be involved in the development of a condition-specific PROM with global transferability.

The first publication of my PhD is in the write-up phase and will serve to provide an update on the current status of national ACL registries worldwide. The registry data will be confirmed at the upcoming ISAKOS conference in Boston, USA.

Early collaboration has also commenced between Denmark and the Paediatric ACL Registry run out of the Queensland Children’s Hospital (QCH).