title: Shortening of the patellar tendon length does not influence the patellofemoral alignment in a cadaveric model.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction with the use of autograft tissue represents the standard treatment. The use of a bone-patellar tendon-bone transplant for symptomatic ACL deficiency achieves good long-term results. The purpose of the study was to investigate in a cadaveric model whether reproducible patellar tendon shortening changes the patellofemoral alignment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using five cadaveric knees, an MRI investigation was performed with the patellar tendon left unchanged, shortened 5 mm and shortened 10 mm, respectively, in both 20 and 45 degrees of knee flexion. The lateral patellofemoral and the congruence angles were measured and compared using a one-way analysis of variance for repeated measurements.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Shortening the patella tendon by approximately 20% did not significantly influence the patellofemoral alignment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although anterior cruciate ligament-reconstruction using the patellar tendon has become a standard procedure, postoperative problems such as anterior knee pain, and patellofemoral osteoarthritis occur quite often. In this cadaver study we did not find a significant difference for the patellofemoral alignment, irrespective of the patellar tendon length.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, General Hospital Tulln, Alter Ziegelweg 10, 3430 Tulln an der Donau, Austria.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Muellner
authors.forename: W A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Menth-Chiari
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Funovics
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Metz
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vécsei
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Engebretsen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005269:Femur / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D010329:Patella / Q000502:physiology*; D013710:Tendons / Q000601:surgery