Anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: effect of graft type and gender on early to mid-term clinical outcomes

TL;DR

This study compares the effectiveness of different graft types and gender in ACL reconstruction surgery outcomes.

Contribution

The study provides empirical evidence comparing patella tendon and hamstring tendon grafts in ACL reconstruction outcomes.

Findings

Patella tendon grafts showed better clinical outcomes than hamstring tendon grafts in several PROM scores.

Gender did not significantly affect clinical outcomes following ACL reconstruction.

All PROM scores significantly improved after ACL reconstruction surgery.

Abstract

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture is a debilitating condition and often requires surgery to restore joint stability. Common autografts used for reconstruction include patella tendon and hamstring tendons. The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the early to mid-term clinical outcomes of ACL reconstruction using validated patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs). The secondary aim was to compare clinical outcomes between patella tendon and hamstring tendon autografts. The tertiary aim was to compare clinical outcomes between males and females.

Patients with an ACL rupture were evaluated before and after surgery using PROM scores which included Lysholm, Tegner, International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC), Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS), Short Form-12 Item (SF-12) and EQ-5D-5L.

A total of 87 patients were included in the study. All PROM scores significantly improved following surgery (p < 0.001) at a mean follow-up time of 28 months (range 12 to 88 months). The patella tendon subgroup (n = 27) had superior post-operative results as compared to the hamstring tendon subgroup (n = 60) for KOOS sport and recreation (p = 0.005), KOOS quality of life (p = 0.025), KOOS overall (p = 0.026), Tegner (p = 0.046) and IKDC (p = 0.021) scores. There was no significant difference of PROM scores between males (n = 60) and females (n = 27) (p > 0.05).

ACL reconstruction significantly improves clinical outcomes for patients with symptomatic instability consequent to ACL rupture. Overall, patella tendon autograft resulted in better clinical outcomes as compared to hamstring tendon autograft following surgery. Gender did not influence clinical outcome following ACL reconstruction.

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