Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2013 May;21(5):1111-8.
doi: 10.1007/s00167-012-2085-4. Epub 2012 Jun 12.

Factors predicting hamstring tendon autograft diameters and resulting failure rates after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction

Soo Yeon Park  1 , Hoon Oh, Sua Park, Jung Hwan Lee, Sang Hak Lee, Kyoung Ho Yoon
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Factors predicting hamstring tendon autograft diameters and resulting failure rates after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction

Soo Yeon Park et al. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc. 2013 May.

Abstract

Purpose: The purposes of this study are to confirm factors that affect the diameter of hamstring tendon autograft and to compare failure rates between the factors after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction.

Methods: A total of 296 patients that underwent reconstruction using hamstring tendon autograft at our clinics for ACL injury between September 2005 and June 2008 were enrolled for this study. The diameters of gracilis and semitendinosus tendons (harvested from the affected knee) and four-strand graft tendon made by folding the gracilis and semitendinosus tendons in two layers were measured. Before operating, we recorded the age, height, weight, Body Mass Index (BMI), gender and athlete versus non-athlete identity of the subjects and checked their correlations with graft diameters. Patients that recorded a grade C or D on the International Knee Documentation Committee Knee Examination Form, as well as patients that underwent revision, were defined as failures and analysed by related factors.

Results: The mean diameter was 1.5 mm ± 0.2 for gracilis tendon, 2.2 mm ± 0.3 for semitendinosus tendon and 7.2 mm ± 0.7 for graft tendon. Except for age, factors including height, weight, BMI, gender and athlete versus non-athlete identity were found to be significantly related to graft diameter. Correlation was strongest with height (p < 0.001). With respect to failure rates after ACL reconstruction, patients with a graft diameter of 8.0 mm or more demonstrated statistically better results than patients with a diameter of below 8.0 mm (p = 0.043). However, failure rates did not differ significantly with respect to other factors.

Conclusions: The diameter of hamstring tendon autograft may be different depending on height, weight, BMI and gender of the patient, as well as whether or not the patient is an athlete. Although we did not find statistically significant differences in failure rates after ACL reconstruction, this study demonstrated relatively better results in patients with a graft diameter of 8.0 mm or more.

Level of evidence: Case series, Level IV.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Am J Sports Med. 1996 Nov-Dec;24(6):726-31 - PubMed
    1. Arthroscopy. 2005 Nov;21(11):1323-9 - PubMed
    1. Arthroscopy. 1998 Apr;14(3):268-77 - PubMed
    1. Am J Sports Med. 2009 Dec;37(12):2362-7 - PubMed
    1. Am J Sports Med. 2003 Jul-Aug;31(4):518-21 - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources