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Study indentifies infection rates after ACL reconstruction with ipsilateral and contralateral grafts
Benner RW. Am J Sports Med. 2011. doi: 10.1177/0363546510388163.
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Investigators of this study found comparable rates of infection and patellar tendon rupture between patients who underwent ACL reconstruction with either ipsilateral or contralateral patellar tendon autografts.
Rodney W. Benner, MD, and colleagues compared the rates of complete patellar tendon ruptures and infections requiring revision procedures between 2,553 patients who had an ACL reconstruction using their ipsilateral patellar tendon grafts with 2,811 patients who underwent the procedure using their contralateral grafts.
The investigators discovered infection rates of 0.35% and 0.14% in the ipsilateral and contralateral groups, respectively. The ipsilateral group had four patients with less than normal knee extension and four patients with less than normal flexion at final follow-up. The contralateral group had one patient with less than normal extension, and two patients with less than normal flexion. The study revealed patella tendon ruptures in six patients in the ipsilateral cohort and seven patients in the contralateral group.
“Patients with complications after ACL reconstruction with a patellar tendon autograft may have less difficulty obtaining full-knee motion when the graft is harvested from the contralateral knee,” the investigators wrote.