title: MRI and morphology of the insertion of the patellar tendon after graft harvesting.
abstract: We performed MRI on 16 patients who had had reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) with a mid-third bone-patellar-tendon-bone autograft. Our aim was to assess the tendon and the site of its insertion at an average of seven years after the original operation. In four of these patients biopsies were taken from the donor site when they had revision of their original operation. MRI showed reconstitution of the tendon into the patellar defect with no evidence of bone formation. Six patients had a persistent defect in the patellar tendon itself. Histological examination of the biopsies of the donor site showed an indirect pattern of insertion with absence of the normal fibrocartilage zone. These morphological changes may adversely affect the biomechanical properties of the healed donor site and we suggest that another graft taken from this site may not be suitable for use in a further operation for reconstruction of the ACL.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, UCLA School of Medicine 90095, USA.
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: D W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Hang
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gentili
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Finerman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016118:Anterior Cruciate Ligament / Q000601:surgery*; D000070598:Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001706:Biopsy; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007593:Joint Instability / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010329:Patella / Q000637:transplantation*; D012086:Reoperation; D013709:Tendon Transfer / Q000009:adverse effects*; D013710:Tendons / Q000473:pathology*