A prospective comparison of bone-patellar tendon-bone and hamstring grafts for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction in female patients

The aim of the study is to compare the results after arthroscopic anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction using central-third, bone-patellar tendon-bone (BTB group) (n=28) and four-strand semitendinosus/gracilis (ST/G group) (n=31) autografts in female patients. The type of study was non-randomised prospective consecutive series. A consecutive series of 61 female patients, all with unilateral ACL ruptures, was included in the study. In both groups, interference screw fixation of the graft was used at both ends, and 59/61 (97%) of the patients returned for the follow-up examination after a period of 26 (23-31) months. The pre-operative assessments in both groups were similar in terms of the Lysholm score, KT-1000 measurements, one-leg-hop test, and knee-walking test. At the 2-year follow-up, the knee-walking test was significantly worse in the BTB group than in the ST/G group (P=0.003). Furthermore, the knee-walking test was significantly worse at follow-up than pre-operatively in the BTB group (P < 0.005). The corresponding finding was not made in the ST/G group. A reduction in knee laxity compared with the pre-operative assessments was found in both groups. No significant difference in the post-operative knee laxity measurement was found between the groups. A significant increase in activity level and subjective scores was found in both groups compared with pre-operative values, without any significant differences between the groups. Two years after ACL reconstruction, the groups displayed no significant differences in terms of functional outcome and knee laxity. However, the use of ST/G autografts rendered significantly less discomfort during the knee-walking test than the use of BTB autografts.