Abstract
One hundred twenty-one patients were prospectively studied to determine whether the different remaining patellar tendon widths after central 10-mm bone- patellar tendon-bone graft harvest influenced the rate and level of quadriceps strength achieved during reha bilitation. Size of the patellar tendon width, measured at the same location in each patient, ranged from 24 to 35 mm. For this study, patients were grouped according to their remaining tendon size into small (14 to 17 mm; mean, 15.8), medium (18 to 20 mm; mean, 19.2), and large (21 to 25 mm; mean, 22.5) widths. Postopera tively, the patient's isokinetic quadriceps scores were determined at 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year. At 6 weeks, the small- and medium-width tendon groups were significantly weaker than the large-width tendon group. At 3 months, only the small-width tendon group continued to be significantly weaker than the large- width tendon group. At and beyond 6 months, no sta tistically significant differences were seen between re maining patellar tendon width groups and their isokinetic quadriceps scores. A constant-sized autog enous patellar tendon graft may be harvested for an terior cruciate ligament reconstruction without compro mising ultimate postoperative quadriceps strength recovery.
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