Pullout strength and failure mode of industrially manufactured and self-made all-suture anchors: a biomechanical analysis

Background: This study presents a new technique for assembling an all-suture anchor from existing medical products. The biomechanical characteristics of this self-made anchor (SMA) are compared with those of an industrially manufactured all-suture anchor.

Methods: The SMAs were made from established medical products (FiberWire #2 and 2-mm FiberTape; Arthrex, Naples, FL, USA). Pretesting was performed in biphasic polyurethane foam blocks. In the next step, 10 SMAs and 10 industrially made anchors (IMAs; 1.8-mm double-loaded Y-Knot Flex all-suture anchor; ConMed Linvatec, Largo, FL, USA) were applied with an insertion tool and tested in fresh porcine femora using a servohydraulic testing system, with a preload of 10 N and a displacement rate of 12.5 mm/s. Pullout strength and failure mode were recorded.

Results: The mean load at failure in the foam blocks was 459 ± 124 N in the SMA group and 538 ± 83 N in the IMA group. In porcine bone, failure occurred at 461 ± 102 N in the SMA group and 431 ± 135 N in the IMA group. The differences in pullout strength between the 2 types of anchor were not statistically significant, either in the foam blocks (P = .17) or in porcine bone (P = .62).

Conclusion: A handmade all-suture anchor using 2 high-strength sutures woven into a 2-mm strip of high-strength tape did not show statistically different failure loads in polyurethane foam or in porcine metaphyseal bone in comparison with a commercially produced double-loaded all-suture anchor. The principal mode of failure in porcine bone in both groups was anchor pullout.