Metall-versus bioabsorbable polyglyconate interference screw for graft fixation in ACL reconstruction: a prospective randomized study of 40 patients

To overcome some of the potential problems (e.g. hardware removal during re vision surgery) of metall interference screws used for patellar tendon ante rior cruciate ligament reconstruction, bioabsorbable screws have recently b een introduced. Forty patients who underwent endoscopic ACL reconstruction using patella tendon autograft were included in the study,they were randomi zed intraoperatively to either Group A (femoral bone block fixation: polygl yconate screw; tibial: metall screw) or Group B (both bone blocks fixed wit h metall interference screws). The patients were evaluated clinically preop eratively as well as 6 weeks, 3 months 12 months and 24 months post op. Lys holm Score at 24 months was 98,1+/-2,3 for Group A and 97,7+/-3,0 for Group B.Tegner Score was 7,4+/-1,1 for Group A and 7,5+/-0,8 for Group B. Two ye ars post op overall IKDC-Score for group A was 5,6% normal, 88,8% nearly no rmal and 5,6% abnormal. The result for group B was 11,1%,77,8% and 11,1%, r espectively. KT-1000 (at 89 N) at two years revealed a side to side differe nce of 1,5+/-0,3 mm (Group A) and 1,6+/-0,7 (Group B). The results of the t wo groups did not show significant differences at any stage of follow up. I n our study polyglyconate interference screw fixation for patellar tendon g rafts has not found to be associated with increased clinical complications. It provided equivalent fixation and clinical results compared to metall sc rews.