In this review, we present the data of one of the largest non-designer, mid- to long-term follow ups of the AGC. We present a total of 1538 AGC knees during a 15 year period, of which 902 were followed up by postal or telephone questionnaire focused on Oxford Knee Scores, Visual analogues of function and pain and survival analyses performed. Mean length of follow up was 10.4 years. 85.7% of patients had an Oxford knee score of between 0 and 40, with 71.2% scoring between 0–30. 65.6% of patients responded with a Visual Analogue Score (VAS) of 0 or 1 at rest (minimum pain 0) and 53.9% reporting VA scores of 0 or 1 while walking. 87.5% of patients reported Excellent or good functional reports at final follow up and 90.3% reporting excellent or good pain control compared to per-operative levels. Survival analysis confirms excellent survivorship. This large cohort and multi-surgeon trial reproduces the excellent results as demonstrated by the designer centre (Ritter et al.). Mid to long term outcome sows excellent function and analgesia. Complication rates are low and the necessity for revision remains low.
Accurate documentation of operative findings is a fundamentally important part of any procedure and forms part of the Royal College of Surgeons of England's guidelines to good care, especially to “ensure that there are legible operative notes (typed if possible) for every operative procedure.” However, many hospitals fall short of this guideline when it comes to arthroscopic procedures because of the difficulty in reproducing visually representative and easy-to-understand images. There is an inability to properly record and archive findings of arthroscopic procedures. We, along with the British Orthopaedic Association, have developed an interactive, free Web-based operative note template that allows the surgeon to draw findings on diagrams of the joints commonly undergoing arthroscopy, type the findings, and then print as many copies as required. The use of the forms has allowed for quicker, easier, and more accurate documentation of arthroscopic procedures. The forms can then be saved to a database and used as a research tool.
