Long Term Comparison of Hamstring Tendon Autograft and Tibialis Anterior Tendon Allograft Use in ACL Reconstruction

Abstract

Background and Objective In the 2000s, it was not clear which graft was the most appropriate for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction.Today, autograft is the gold standard. In this study,long term clinical outcomes of hamstring allograft versus anterior tibialis tendon allograft (ATT) was compared. Methods From June 2008 to August 2010, patients with symptomatic ACL-deficient knees were randomized to treat either with hamstring autografts or tibialis anterior allografts.All allografts were obtained from a single tissue bank, aseptically processed, and fresh-frozen without terminal irradiation. The graft fixation was identical in all knees. The same postoperative rehabilitation protocol was followed by all patients. An assessment of the patients was conducted using questionnaires based on the Lysholm knee scoring scale (LKSS) and the International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) subjective knee score , along with objective functional tests (Lachman test, pivot-shift) and physical examination of the knee. Results A total of 60 patients (58 males, 2 females) with a mean age of 29.48± 6.2 were included. Pain and giving way phenomena were the most common symptoms. There was a significant LKSS value difference between the preoperative and postoperative of anterior tibialis allograft patients and hamstring autograft(p