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Patellar tendon autograft versus patellar tendon allograft in anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: a systematic review and meta-analysis

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European Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery & Traumatology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objective

This review aims to compare the clinical results of bone–patellar tendon–bone (BPTB) autograft and BPTB allograft in primary anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction.

Methods

PubMed Medline, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library were systematically searched for prospective or retrospective cohort studies that compared BPTB autograft with BPTB allograft in ACL reconstruction. The results of the eligible studies were independently extracted and analyzed according to the following: one-leg test, range of motion (ROM), overall International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC), Lachman test, pivot shift test, Lysholm scores, Tegner scores, KT-1000 test, anterior knee pain, crepitus, and clinical failure. Random-effect and fixed-effect models were adopted to calculate the weight mean difference and the odds ratio for continuous and dichotomous variables with 95 % confidence interval.

Results

Thirteen studies met the inclusion criteria, resulting in 1,046 (484 autografts and 562 allografts) patients available for the present study. A meta-analysis showed no significant differences between the two treatment groups in terms of the following: one-leg test (p = 0.21), ROM (p = 0.41), overall IKDC (p = 0.25), Lysholm scores (p = 0.25), Tegner scores (p = 0.09), KT-1000 (p = 0.69), Lachman test (p = 0.89), positive pivot shift test (p = 0.18), anterior knee pain (p = 0.93), and crepitus (p = 0.96). However, a significant difference in clinical failure (p = 0.01) in favor of autograft was observed. In the fresh-frozen subgroup, no difference in the evaluations, except for Tegner scores, were found between autograft and allograft.

Conclusions

Therefore, BPTB autograft shows potential as an optimal choice for ACL reconstruction on the basis of earlier functional recovery and fewer graft failure.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopaedics, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, 154 Anshan Road, Heping District, Tianjin, 300052, People’s Republic of China

    Li-Wei Yao, Qi Wang, Liang Zhang, Chao Zhang, Bin Zhang, Yan-Jun Zhang & Shi-Qing Feng

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  1. Li-Wei Yao
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  2. Qi Wang
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  3. Liang Zhang
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Correspondence to Shi-Qing Feng.

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Li-Wei Yao and Qi Wang make the same contribution to this article.

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Yao, LW., Wang, Q., Zhang, L. et al. Patellar tendon autograft versus patellar tendon allograft in anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Eur J Orthop Surg Traumatol 25, 355–365 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00590-014-1481-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00590-014-1481-5

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