HISTOPATHOLOGICAL FEATURES OF FAILED PROSTHETIC LEEDS-KEIO ANTERIOR CRUCIATE LIGAMENTS

Artificial ligaments such as the Leeds-Keio ligament are inserted into knee joints to treat cruciate ligament trauma. Three cases of prosthe tic ligament failure are reported, showing foreign body granulomatous inflammation around implanted fibres, together with abundant fibre par ticles within giant cells. It is suggested that intra-operative fibre fragmentation can produce a sufficient quantity of detritic particles to elicit a granulomatous reaction, which can ultimately lead to ligam ent instability and failure.