[Relationship between tunnel widening and different rehabilitation procedures after ACL reconstruction with quadrupled hamstring tendons].
OBJECTIVE
To find out the relationship between different rehabilitation procedures and the tibial tunnel widening after ACL reconstruction.


METHODS
Sixty-five patients undergone ACL reconstructions by using quadrupled semitendinosus and gracilis tendons were divided into two groups. Group A had 33 patients, 19 male, 14 female, average age (31.2 +/- 12.4) years, only ACL reconstruction was performed with Germanic Professor Paessler's technique, and aggressive rehabilitation procedure was used for functional recovery. Group B had 32 patients, 20 male, 12 female, average age (30.3 +/- 10.3) years. Besides ACL reconstruction, every patient in Group B accepted meniscus repair or cartilage repair with microfracture technique, then postoperative conservative rehabilitation procedure was used. Six months after operation, standard posterior-anterior radiographic plates were taken for each patient, CorelDRAW 8.0 software was used to digitize all X-ray plates and measure the upper, middle and lower parts of the tibial tunnel. Magnification of X-ray plates was taken out after measurement. Statistic analysis was done by t-test.


RESULTS
Six months after ACL reconstruction, on both the posterior-anterior and lateral X-ray plates the tibial tunnel widening of the upper, middle and lower parts in Group B with aggressive rehabilitation procedure was significantly serious than in Group A with conservative rehabilitation.


CONCLUSIONS
Rehabilitation procedure after ACL reconstruction is one of the reasons for tunnel widening. It perhaps influences the functional recovery and long-term clinical result of the operated knee by affecting the tunnel widening.
Yu
Jia-kuo
JK
Institute of Sports Medicine of Peking University, Beijing 100083, China.
Paessler
Hans H
HH
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016118:Anterior Cruciate Ligament / Q000601:surgery; D000070598:Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007593:Joint Instability / Q000209:etiology*; D007718:Knee Injuries / Q000534:rehabilitation / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000379:methods* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D012046:Rehabilitation / Q000379:methods; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013710:Tendons / Q000637:transplantation*; D014182:Transplantation, Autologous