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Quadriceps tendon autograft for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction is associated with high revision rates: results from the Danish Knee Ligament Registry

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Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy Aims and scope

A LETTER TO THE EDITOR to this article was published on 02 April 2020

Abstract

Purpose

The quadriceps tendon (QT) has recently gained interest as an anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) autograft. There is a paucity of data from large cohort studies on failures and revision rates after ACLR using the QT graft. The purpose of the present study is to use the Danish Knee Ligament Reconstruction Registry (DKRR) to compare revision rates, objective knee stability and subjective clinical outcomes in patients who have undergone ACLR with QT, hamstring tendon (HT), and patellar tendon (PT) as a graft for ACLR. It was hypothesized that QT autografts would result in similar objective knee stability and revision rates as HT and PT autografts.

Methods

Data on primary ACLRs in the DKRR from 2005 through 2017 were analyzed. Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Scores (KOOS), Tegner activity scale scores, sagittal knee laxity, pivot-shift tests at 1-year follow-up and revision rates at 2-year follow-up were compared for the three autograft cohorts.

Results

A total of 531 QT, 14,213 HT and 1835 PT ACLR were registered in the DKLR between 2005 and 2017. QT autograft was associated with statistically significant increased laxity (1.8 mm) compared to HT autograft (1.5 mm) (p < 0.001) and more positive pivot shift. There was a significant higher revision rate for QT (4.7%), compared to PT (1.5%) and HT (2.3%) autografts at 2-year follow-up (p < 0.002).

Conclusion

Quadriceps tendon autografts for ACLR was associated with higher revision rates than HT and PT grafts. QT graft was also associated with small increased objective knee laxity and more positive pivot shift than HT and PT grafts.

Level of evidence

III

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Funding

No external funding was recieved for the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopaedics, Aarhus University Hospital, Palle Juul-Jensens Boulevard 99, 8200, Aarhus N, Denmark

    Martin Lind & Torsten Nielsen

  2. Orthopedic Clinic, Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center, Oslo University Hospital, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, Norway

    Marc J. Strauss & Lars Engebretsen

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  1. Martin Lind
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  2. Marc J. Strauss
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  4. Lars Engebretsen
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Correspondence to Martin Lind.

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The study was approved by the Regional Centre for Clinical Quality Development and the National Data Protection Agency approval number 1-16-02-65-17).

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No written consent is necessary in Denmark for studies based on data from national board of health approved national healthcare registries.

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Lind, M., Strauss, M.J., Nielsen, T. et al. Quadriceps tendon autograft for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction is associated with high revision rates: results from the Danish Knee Ligament Registry. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc 28, 2163–2169 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-019-05751-5

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