Purpose: Performing all-inside anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction using cortical button fixation, the tendon graft has to be secured in a closed loop with sutures. In the present study, the graft secured with four sutures was compared with two reduced-suture material graft preparation techniques.
Methods: A bovine tendon graft folded over two adjustable-length loop cortical button devices was secured using the following techniques: 1, four buried-knot sutures; 2, two sutures on the tibial end only; and 3, two sutures on the tibial graft end with additional suspension on the tibial cortical button. Each group consisted of eight specimens and underwent cyclic loading followed by a load-to-failure test.
Results: The least graft elongation after cyclic loading was observed for the graft with four sutures (6.1 ± 0.6 mm), followed by the graft with two sutures and additional suspension (6.3 ± 0.8 mm) and the graft with two sutures (7.0 ± 0.7 mm). The difference in graft elongation between four sutures and only two sutures was significant (P < 0.05). The ultimate failure loads were highest for the graft with two sutures and additional suspension (801 ± 107 N), followed by the graft with four sutures (766 ± 70 N), and the graft with two sutures (699 ± 87 N). No significant (n.s.) differences were observed between the ultimate failure loads in the three groups.
Conclusions: For the reduction in suture material to two sutures, additional suspension can be used in order to reduce the graft lengthening. Performing a suture-reducing graft can save operating time and costs. However, each of the three all-inside button graft techniques showed considerable graft elongation indicating a risk of graft lengthening in the early postoperative period.
Keywords: ACL reconstruction; All-inside; Anterior cruciate ligament; Biomechanics; Cortical fixation; Hamstring graft.