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The reharvested patellar tendon has the potential for ligamentization when used for anterior cruciate ligament revision surgery

  • Knee
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Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy Aims and scope

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of the present study was to make an in-depth clinical, radiographical, and histological evaluation of patients who underwent anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) revision surgery with reharvested central third patellar tendon autograft.

Methods

Four patients (two women and two men) underwent ACL revision surgery with reharvested patellar tendon autograft 71 (66–120) months after the primary reconstruction. The patients were followed prospectively and underwent a clinical examination and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at two and 10 years. Furthermore, they underwent a second-look arthroscopy involving a biopsy procedure from the reconstructed ACL 3 years after revision surgery.

Results

The clinical results were poor both at two and 10 years, but the knees were stable and had a firm endpoint in all four patients in the Lachman test. At the second-look arthroscopy, the graft appeared macroscopically normal in all four patients. Histologically two patients had a normal or close to normal appearance of the reconstructed ACL with no or slight increase in cellularity and vascularity. Two patients had a marked increase in cellularity and vascularity, and the findings revealed that ligamentization was present in all four patients.

Conclusions

The clinical outcome 10 years after ACL revision surgery was poor in these four patients. In contrast, the reharvested patellar tendon appeared close to normal on MRI, and the second-look arthroscopy with the concomitant histological findings revealed that the grafts were viable 3 years after revision. Therefore, the reharvested patellar tendon seems to have the potential for ligamentization when used for ACL revision surgery.

Level of evidence

Case series, Level IV.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. NU-Hospital Organization, Trollhättan/Uddevalla, Sweden

    Sven Stener, Lars Ejerhed, Ninni Sernert & Jüri Kartus

  2. Karolinska University Hospital, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden

    Tomas Movin & Nikos Papadogiannakis

  3. Uddevalla Hospital, 451 80, Uddevalla, Sweden

    Sven Stener

Authors
  1. Sven Stener
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  2. Lars Ejerhed
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  3. Tomas Movin
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  4. Ninni Sernert
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  5. Nikos Papadogiannakis
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  6. Jüri Kartus
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Correspondence to Sven Stener.

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Stener, S., Ejerhed, L., Movin, T. et al. The reharvested patellar tendon has the potential for ligamentization when used for anterior cruciate ligament revision surgery. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc 20, 1168–1174 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-012-1908-7

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