title: Anterolateral ligament reconstruction with autologous grafting: A biomechanical study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To evaluate the reliability of the Iliotibial band compared to gracilis tendon as a graft to be used in anterolateral ligament reconstruction.
  
  
  METHODS
  Gracilis tendon and a strip of Iliotibial band compared were harvested from 8 fresh human cadaveric knees. The gracilis tendon was prepared to obtain a graft of 10cm in length (Group 1). Iliotibial band compared was prepared to obtain a graft of 10cm in length and 0.5cm in width from the middle portion (Group 2). All the specimens were fixed on a servo hydraulic tensile machine with dedicated cryo-clamp. The loading protocol, used to compare the previously published results of ultimate failure load and Stiffness of the anterolateral ligament (Group 3), included a cyclic preconditioning between 10 and 25N at 0.1Hz for 10cycles and then a load to failure test at 20mm/min.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Gracilis tendon showed higher Ultimante Failure Load and stiffness when compared to a strip of Iliotibial band. Gracilis tendon and a strip of Iliotibial band compared showed higher Ultimante Failure Load and stiffness when compared with native anterolateral ligament as reported by Kennedy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Both grafts tested in the present studies are suitable for an anatomical anterolateral ligament reconstruction.
authors.affiliation: University of Rome "La Sapienza", II School of Medicine, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Kirk Kilgour Sports Injury Center, Via di Grottarossa 1035, 00189 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Monaco
authors.affiliation: University of Rome "La Sapienza", II School of Medicine, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Kirk Kilgour Sports Injury Center, Via di Grottarossa 1035, 00189 Rome, Italy. Electronic address: riccardolanzetti@gmail.com.
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Lanzetti
authors.affiliation: University of Rome "La Sapienza", II School of Medicine, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Kirk Kilgour Sports Injury Center, Via di Grottarossa 1035, 00189 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fabbri
authors.affiliation: University of Rome "La Sapienza", II School of Medicine, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Kirk Kilgour Sports Injury Center, Via di Grottarossa 1035, 00189 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Redler
authors.affiliation: University of Rome "La Sapienza", II School of Medicine, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Kirk Kilgour Sports Injury Center, Via di Grottarossa 1035, 00189 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: De Carli
authors.affiliation: University of Rome "La Sapienza", II School of Medicine, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Kirk Kilgour Sports Injury Center, Via di Grottarossa 1035, 00189 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ferretti
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D016118:Anterior Cruciate Ligament / Q000601:surgery*; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008023:Ligaments, Articular / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D013710:Tendons / Q000637:transplantation*; D014182:Transplantation, Autologous
keywords: Anterolateral ligament; Biomechanics; Gracilis tendon; Ileotibial band