THE ABC CARBON AND POLYESTER PROSTHETIC LIGAMENT FOR ACL-DEFICIENT KNEES - EARLY RESULTS IN 31 CASES

We treated 39 knees with chronic deficiency of the anterior cruciate l igament by reconstruction using the ABC carbon and polyester prostheti c ligament; 31 (79.5%) were reviewed at an average follow-up of 34 mon ths. There had been four complete failures requiring revision. The rem aining 27 were studied in detail. On the Lysholm rating, only 11 knees (41%) had good results with a score of over 76. The mean anterior dra wer movement was reduced from 7.6 mm before operation to 5.8 mm at rev iew. The mean difference from the opposite uninjured knee was 3.9 mm b efore operation, 1 mm (in 21 patients) at mean follow-up of 7.4 months and 2.5 mm (in 27 patients) at 34 months, indicating progressive loss of effect. In our opinion the results are unsatisfactory: we, do not recommend the use of this prosthetic ligament.