Dacron ligament reconstruction for chronic anterior cruciate ligament insufficiency.

We report the 5-year follow-up results of a prospective, multicenter study evaluating the use of a Dacron prosthetic ligament in reconstruction of anterior cruciate-deficient knees. The study group consisted of 84 patients, followed for at least 5 years. The patients were divided into 2 groups: 50 patients with isolated anterior cruciate ligament laxity (Group 1) and 34 patients with a failed previous anterior cruciate ligament surgery or combined laxities (Group 2). Two surgical techniques were employed: reconstruction through drill holes in the tibia and femur (30 patients) and reconstruction using the over-the-top position with the Dacron ligament wrapped in a strip of iliotibial band (54 patients). The overall failure rate was 35.7% at 5 years. The failure rate at 2 years was 20%, illustrating a significant deterioration of results between the two follow-up intervals. Evaluation of subjective criteria using the Lysholm score showed an improvement from preoperative status at the 2-year followup; however, there was a slight decline when 5-year results were evaluated. Tegner activity levels increased from a mean of 2.9 +/- 2.1 at the preoperative visit, to a mean of 4.9 +/- 2.0 at the 2-year followup and a mean of 5.0 +/- 2.0 at the 5-year visit. These results show that the Dacron ligament prosthesis achieves the short-term goal of restoring stability and improving function and may be sufficient to provide long-term stability for the anterior cruciate-deficient knee.