Design and evaluation of a cryogenic soft tissue fixation device -- load tolerances and thermal aspects.

Mechanical studies of soft connective tissues often encounter methodological difficulties, particularly in the secure fixation of the tissues. A simple, inexpensive technique which allowed stable cryofixation of soft tissues in uniaxial loading machines was developed. The cryogenic fixation device was evaluated in terms of its fixation strength and the temperature gradients within the tested tissues.

Mechanical tensile properties of the quadriceps tendon and patellar ligament in young adults.

We analyzed mechanical tensile properties of 16 10-mm wide, full-thickness central parts of quadriceps tendons and patellar ligaments from paired knees of eight male donors (mean age, 24.9 years). Uniaxial tensile testing was performed in a servohydraulic materials testing machine at an extension rate of 1 mm/sec.

Effect of cyclic preconditioning on the tensile properties of human quadriceps tendons and patellar ligaments.

Preconditioning of soft tissues has become a common procedure in tensile testing to assess the history dependence of these viscoelastic materials. To our knowledge, this is the first study comparing tensile properties of soft tissues-before and after cyclic preconditioning with high loads. Sixteen quadriceps tendon-bone (QT-B) complexes and 16 patellar ligament-bone (PL-B) complexes from a young population (mean age 24.

Quadriceps tendon and patellar ligament: cryosectional anatomy and structural properties in young adults.

Structural tensile properties analyses of 10-mm-wide central sections of quadriceps tendon-bone (QT-B) and bone-patellar ligament (B-PL) complexes from young male donors (mean age 24.9 years, range 19-32 years) were complemented by a cryosectional analysis: each QT-B complex was composed of the segment of the quadriceps tendon with the proximal half of the patella attached, each B-PL complex was composed of the distal half of the patella with the patellar ligament attached. A servohydraulic materials testing machine was used to assess ultimate failure load of 16 unconditioned and 16 preconditioned QT-B and B-PL complexes at an extension rate of 1 mm/s.