No relevant articles have been published in the last 20 years regarding the benefit of aspiration in acutely injured knees.
Benefits/Harms of Implementation
Acute knee aspiration has the potential to decrease pain and improve early ROM in ACL injured knees. Acute aspiration may also decrease the presence of cytokines which may be implicated in the cascade progressing to osteoarthritis following ACL tear. Aspiration of the knee has the potential to introduce infection in an acutely injured knee.
Outcome Importance
Unclear.
Cost Effectiveness/Resource Utilization
Minimal cost, and minimal use of resources to perform aspiration.
Acceptability
If there are positive clinical implications, knee aspiration would be an acceptable treatment for acutely ACL injured knees when indicated.
Feasibility
Knee aspiration in acute ACL tears, if indicated, would be feasible in many situations. Prospective, randomized trials will be needed to determine the effect of aspiration of the hematoma following acute ACL tear in reducing pain and/or improving clinical outcome.
Future Research
Prospective, randomized trials will be needed to determine the effect of aspiration of the hematoma following acute ACL tear in reducing pain and/or improving clinical outcome.