Porcine tibia is a poor substitute for human cadaver tibia for evaluating interference screw fixation.
BACKGROUND
Animal tissues are commonly used in anterior cruciate ligament graft fixation studies.


OBJECTIVE
Porcine bones and tendons provide good surrogates for human cadaver tissues in the biomechanical evaluation of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.


METHODS
Randomized experimental study.


METHODS
Three different tissue models-pure porcine (porcine graft fixed in porcine tibia, group 1), combination (human hamstring graft and porcine tibia, group 2), and pure human (human graft and tibia, group 3)-were compared using both cyclic-loading and subsequent single-cycle load-to-failure tests to assess the effect of graft and bone tissue source (porcine vs human) on the fixation strength of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.


RESULTS
In the cyclic-loading test, the displacement (slippage) after 1500 cycles was 2.0 mm +/- 0.7 mm, 1.6 mm +/- 0.4 mm, and 4.4 mm +/- 1.9 mm for groups 1, 2, and 3, respectively (P <.001 between 1 and 2 vs 3). In the subsequent single-cycle load-to-failure test, the corresponding average yield loads were 668 N +/- 157 N, 962 N +/- 238 N, and 448 N +/- 98 N, all differences being statistically significant.


CONCLUSIONS
In comparison to young human cadaver tibia, porcine tibia underestimate graft slippage and overestimate the failure load of the soft tissue graft in anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.


CONCLUSIONS
Porcine tibia does not provide a reasonable surrogate for human cadaver tibia for evaluating ACL reconstructions.
Nurmi
Janne T
JT
Medical School and the Institute of Medical Technology, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland.
Sievänen
Harri
H
Kannus
Pekka
P
Järvinen
Markku
M
Järvinen
Teppo L N
TL
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D016118:Anterior Cruciate Ligament / Q000601:surgery*; D000070598:Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001863:Bone Screws; D002102:Cadaver; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures; D013552:Swine; D013710:Tendons / Q000637:transplantation*; D013977:Tibia / Q000637:transplantation*; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous