Mid-term clinical results of ligament advanced reinforcement system artificial ligament in anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction / 中华创伤杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate the knee joint function at 3-7 years after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction with ligament advanced reinforcement system (LARS) artificial ligament and assess the morphologic changes of LARS artificial ligament in human tissues.Methods Fifty-seven patients (58 knees) undergone ACL reconstruction with LARS artificial ligament were recruited to this multi-factor retrospective study and divided into acute injury group and chronic injury group according to time between injury and operation.LARS artificial ligament harvested from the three patients (4 knees)who had an additional surgery were observed histologically.Results Knee joint function and range of movement were significantly improved after surgery (P ＜ O.O1),however subjective and objective estimation on knee joint function presented no statistical differences between the two groups (P ＞0.05).X-ray films and MRI revealed different degree of bone tunnel progressive augmentation in average 1.5 years,indistinctive correlation of knee joint stability with bone tunnel augmentation (P ＞ 0.5) as well as no statistical difference concerning incidence of tibial and femoral bone tunnel augmentation (P ＞ 0.05).Histological observation revealed well-arranged fiber tissue growth into LARS artificial ligament as well as fibrous joint among single-beam polyester fibers as well as a bundle of polyester fibers at postoperative 2 years.Conclusions (1) LARS artificial ligament gains a satisfactory knee joint stability and function in ACL reconstruction.(2) There exists bone tunnel augmentation that tends to stability at postoperative 1.5 years,but knee joint stability is not correlated to the extent of bone tunnel augmentation after surgery.(3) Postoperative data evaluation of acute injury and chronic injury is the same.(4) Human normal fibrous tissues grow into LARS artificial ligament regularly.