Shaieb 2002

Methods	Treatment allocation by birth date Independent, non blinded assessment Mean follow‐up: 33 months Loss to follow‐up: 12 patients in total (excluded from analysis) Graft re‐ruptures (4 patients in total, excluded from analysis): 1 PT (traumatic), 1 PT (atraumatic) and 2 HT (traumatic)
Participants	USA 82 participants with acute or chronic isolated unilateral ACL tears Group allocation data for 66 participants (after excluding lost to follow‐ups and graft re‐ruptures) PT: n = 31 (17 acute, 14 chronic), mean 32 years (14 to 48 years), 26 males / 7 females HT: n = 35 (14 acute, 21 chronic), mean 30 years (14 to 53 years), 21 males / 16 females
Interventions	Arthroscopically‐assisted ACL reconstruction with: 1. Patellar tendon (single incision, proximal fixation ‐ round‐head cannulated, noncutting, metal interference screw; tibial fixation ‐ interference screw) versus 2. Hamstring tendon: semitendinosus/gracilis tendons (4 strands; single incision, proximal fixation ‐ round‐head cannulated, noncutting, metal interference screw; tibial fixation ‐ interference screw)
Outcomes	Mean 33 months follow‐up for: Lysholm, KT‐1000 (89N,134N, manual maximum), range of motion, pivot shift; return to activity, patient satisfaction, Cincinnati, Lachman (mean side to side difference), return to sport, thigh circumference, patellofemoral pain
Notes	No additional methodological information or individual patient data were received from the authors.
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	High risk	Treatment allocation by birth date.
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	High risk
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) All outcomes	High risk
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	High risk	Complete clinical data was not available for 13 of the patients available for follow‐up. These patients completed questionnaires by mail only.
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	High risk
Other bias	High risk	Baseline characteristics for all patients entered into the trial were not reported.