Review Question - QID 599

Beynnon's randomized JBJS study compared bone-patellar tendon-bone autograft with two strand hamstring autograft for ACL reconstructions. They followed 22 subjects in each group for an average of 3 years and evaluated them in terms of clinical test findings, patient satisfaction, activity level, functional status, and isokinetic muscle strength. The patients in whom a hamstring graft had been used had significantly lower peak knee-flexion strength than those who had a bone-patellar tendon-bone graft (p = 0.039). In contrast, the two treatments produced similar outcomes in terms of patient satisfaction, activity level, and knee function (ability to perform a one-legged hop, bear weight, squat, climb stairs, run in place, and duckwalk). BTB autograft patients tend to have a higher incidence of knee pain and knee stiffness not affecting function. Hamstring autograft does not generate less tunnel widening or a smaller pivot-shift test or KT-1000 reading than patellar autograft.