A COMPARISON OF FUNCTIONAL OUTCOMES AFTER BIOSTABLE AND BIOABSORBABLE INTERFERENCE SCREW FIXATIONS IN ARTHROSCOPIC ACL RECONSTRUCTION

Abstract

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is common, and ACL reconstruction is one of the most frequently performed sports medicine surgical procedures. In an ACL reconstruction, the graft fixation impacts the stability and healing of the construct. The objective of this study was to compare the clinical outcome of biostable and bioabsorbable interference screw fixations in arthroscopic ACL reconstructions.

This was a prospective, randomized study. Arthroscopic ACL Reconstruction replaced a ruptured ACL ligaments with a single bundle hamstring graft and using Endobutton as femoral fixation. For tibial fixation, patients in Group 1 received biostable screws and patients in Group 2 received bioabsorbable screws. Progress in functional outcomes at 1,3,6,9 months and 1 year was assessed by using Mann Whitney U- test. Functional outcomes in the two groups were compared by using Spearman’s Correlation test.

In each group, there were statistically significant improvements in functional outcomes after 1,3,6,9 months and 1 year on Mann-Whitney U-test. The comparison of functional outcomes of two group, showed statistically significant differences in Tegner Activity Score but not in Lysholm Knee Score.

In our study,statistically significant difference was found, the increase in Tegner Activity scores in the Bioabsorbable group was higher than Biostable group. However, further authentication is required by doing long term studies.