Arthroscopic anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction with quadriceps tendon-patellar bone autograft

Background: Surgical reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is indicated in the ACL-deficient knee with symptomatic instability and mu ltiple ligaments injuries. Bone patellar tendon-bone and the hamstring tend on generally have been used. In the present study, we describe an alternati ve graft, the quadriceps tendon-patellar bone autograft, by using arthrosco pic ACL reconstruction. Methods: From March of 1996 through March of 1997, a quadriceps tendon-pate llar bone autograft was used in 12 patients with ACL injuries, Results: After 15 to 24 months of follow-up, the clinical outcome for those patients with this graft have been encouraging. Ten patients could return to the same or a higher level of preinjury sports activity. According to th e International Knee Documentation Committee rating system, 10 of the 12 pa tients had normal or nearly normal ratings. Recovery of quadriceps muscle s trength to 80% of the normal knee was achieved in 11 patients in 1 year, Conclusion: The advantages of the quadriceps tendon graft include the follo wing: the graft is larger and stronger than the patellar tendon; morbidity of harvest technique and donor site is less than that of patellar tendon gr aft; there is little quadriceps inhibition after quadriceps harvest: there is quicker return to sports activities with aggressive rehabilitation. A qu adriceps tendon-patellar autograft is a reasonable alternative to ACL recon struction in patients who are not suitable for either a bone-patellar tendo n-bone autograft or a hamstring tendon autograft.