In vitro effects of holmium - YAG laser on caprine stifle retinacular restraints

This study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of the Holmium:YAG laser f or performing lateral release and medial joint capsular tightening intracap sularly and to compare the efficacy of the laser versus a scalpel blade for performing a lateral release by performing arthroscopic surgery on 29 capr ine patellofemoral joints. Specimens were divided into six treatment groups and treatments consisted of lateral release alone, medial capsular tighten ing alone, or both treatments, and the effect of each treatment on patellar tracking was evaluated using video analysis of optical markers, Each treat ment caused significantly different magnitudes of medial patellar displacem ent throughout a 75 degrees range of motion: medial tightening followed by lateral release (1.5 +/- 0.10 mm, mean +/- standard error of the mean); lat eral release followed by medial tightening (1.1 +/- 0.11 mm); medial tighte ning alone (0.73 +/- 0.10 mm); lateral release alone (0.36 +/- 0.09 mm); an d sham (-0.15 +/- 0.05 mm), There were no significant differences between p erforming the lateral release using the laser (1.5 +/- 0.10 mm) versus a sc alpel (1.4 +/- 0.11 mm), This study shows that lateral release can be perfo rmed as effectively with the laser as with a scalpel and that the laser is an effective tool for performing lateral release and medial joint capsular tightening procedures intracapsularly in this caprine model.