Bd. Beynnon et al., BIOMECHANICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE HEALING RESPONSE OF THE RABBIT PATELLAR TENDON AFTER REMOVAL OF ITS CENTRAL 3RD, American journal of sports medicine, 23(4), 1995, pp. 452-457
The objective of this study was to determine the biomechanical propert
ies of the healing patellar tendon after removal of its central third.
This was accomplished by removing the central third of the patellar t
endon from the right limb of 30 mature New Zealand White rabbits. The
tendon of the contralateral normal limb served as the unoperated contr
ol. The rabbits were separated into five test groups according to heal
ing time: time of surgery and 1, 2, 3, and 6 months after surgery. The
ultimate failure strength of the patellar tendons with the central th
ird removed was significantly less than the failure strength of the co
ntralateral normal patellar tendons at all time intervals after surger
y. At the time of surgery, the ultimate failure strength values of the
operated patellar tendons were on average 53% of the normal patellar
tendons, increasing to 72% of normal at 6 months. There was a signific
ant correlation between the ultimate failure strength of the operated
tendons and healing time. The positive slope for this regression indic
ated that the ultimate failure strength of the operated tendons conver
ged toward normal as healing progressed. Failure mode of the operated
tendon did not depend on healing time.