Mj. Silva et al., THE EFFECTS OF MULTIPLE-STRAND SUTURE TECHNIQUES ON THE TENSILE PROPERTIES OF REPAIR OF THE FLEXOR DIGITORUM PROFUNDUS TENDON TO BONE, Journal of bone and joint surgery. American volume (Print ed.), 80A(10), 1998, pp. 1507-1514
We examined the effects of multiple-strand suture techniques on the te
nsile properties of flexor digitorum profundus tendon-to-bone repairs
in a human cadaver finger model. Forty-four fingers were obtained from
the cadavera of fifteen donors who had been an average of seventy-fou
r years old (range, fifty-four to eighty-nine years old) at the time o
f death. Four or eight-strand proximal grasping sutures were secured t
o the distal phalanx of each finger with use of either a suture anchor
or a dorsally placed button. There,were four subgroups of eleven fing
ers each. We found that repairs performed with use of a dorsally place
d button had greater yield force, ultimate force, and rigidity than th
ose performed,vith use of an anchor and that repairs performed with ei
ght strands had greater ultimate force than those performed with four
strands. These differences were significant (p < 0.05). We could detec
t no differences among the four types of repairs with regard to the am
ount of relative tendon-bone elongation at twenty newtons of force. Th
e repairs performed with eight strands and a dorsally placed button ha
d an average yield force (and 95 per cent confidence interval) of 50.0
+/- 14.1 newtons, an average ultimate force of 68.5 +/- 14.6 newtons,
an average rigidity of 744 +/- 327 newton/(millimeter/millimeter), an
d an average tendon-bone elongation of 3.4 +/- 0.7 millimeters at twen
ty newtons of force. Multiple-comparison testing showed that the eight
-strand repairs performed with a dorsally placed button had greater ul
timate force than the other three types of repairs as well as greater
yield force and rigidity than the four and eight-strand repairs perfor
med with a suture anchor.