The results of fresh-frozen patellar tendon allografts for chronic anterior cruciate ligament deficiency of the knee

This prospective study was done to evaluate the clinical outcome of fresh-frozen patellar bone-tendon-bone al lograft tissue used as a substitute for chronic insuffi ciency of the anterior cruciate ligament. Forty-one pa tients were followed at a mean of 27 months after surgery. The mean time from injury to reconstruction was 34 months. The same operative procedure and postoperative rehabilitation was performed on each patient. The evaluation method consisted of subjective, objective, and instrumented laxity testing. Thirty-seven patients (90%) thought their knee was normal or im proved after surgery and had no further episodes of giving way. The combined modified Hughston Knee Score re vealed 30 patients (73%) with an excellent or good result and 9 patients (22%) with a fair or poor result. The mean postoperative Lysholm Knee Score was 91 (range, 56 to 100). Thirty-two had a negative pivot shift (78%). The postoperative KT-1000 arthrometer re vealed 37 patients had an injured-to-uninjured differ ence of 5 mm or less (mean, 1.32 mm; range, 0 to 5). There were three traumatic failures at 24 months post operatively in this group. There was no rejection phe nomenon noted postoperatively. In addition, clinical observation showed less postoperative morbidity when compared to a matched autogenous patellar tendon control group.