High-dose electron beam sterilization of soft-tissue grafts maintains significantly improved biomechanical properties compared to standard gamma treatment.

Allografts have gained increasing popularity in anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. However, one of the major concerns regarding allografts is the possibility of disease transmission. Electron beam (Ebeam) and Gamma radiation have been proven to be successful in sterilization of medical products.

Fractionation of high-dose electron beam irradiation of BPTB grafts provides significantly improved viscoelastic and structural properties compared to standard gamma irradiation.

Purpose: Irradiation >30 kGy is required to achieve sterility against bacterial and viral pathogens in ACL allograft sterilization. However, doses >20 kGy substantially reduce the structural properties of soft-tissue grafts. Fractionation of irradiation doses is a standard procedure in oncology to reduce tissue damage but has not been applied in tissue graft sterilization.

Effect of electron beam irradiation on biomechanical properties of patellar tendon allografts in anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.

Background: Sterilization of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) allografts is an important prerequisite to prevent disease transmission. However, mechanical tissue properties are compromised by most current sterilization procedures, so that uncompromised sterilization of allografts is difficult to achieve. Hypothesis/

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the novel electron beam sterilization procedure on the biomechanical properties of human patellar tendon allografts at various irradiation dosages.