Central third bone-patellar tendon-bone anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: a 5-year follow-up.

SUMMARY: Arthroscopically assisted anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction using the central third bone-patellar tendon-bone as a free autologous graft is now a widely used procedure. However, little has been published regarding its long-term success. In this retrospective study, we report on the results of 32 patients who were followed-up over 5 years after their reconstruction. Twenty-five patients had improved on their prereconstruction Lysholm and Tegner Activity scores and the same number denied having any symptoms of instability. The mean Lysholm knee score was 88.5. All patients had within 10 degrees of full flexion and 28 had KT-1000 arthrometer readings within 3 mm of their uninjured knee. Only 3 patients had clinical evidence of failure of the graft. We conclude that this technique compares favorably with other alternatives in the long-term treatment of ACL rupture.