Biomechanical Evaluation of Suture Tape Internal Brace Reinforcement of Soft Tissue Allografts for ACL Reconstruction Using a Porcine Model.

Background: Internal bracing of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) surgery is a newer concept gaining popularity.

Purpose/hypothesis: To assess the biomechanical performance of soft tissue ACL reconstruction allografts reinforced with suture tape. It was hypothesized that load to failure would increase and cyclic displacement would decrease at time zero in the constructs reinforced with internal brace suture tape compared with those without suture tape augmentation.

Study Design: Controlled laboratory study.

Methods: We performed ACL reconstruction on porcine knees using bovine extensor tendon soft tissue allografts: 10 knees without (control) and 10 knees with (reinforced) suture tape reinforcement. An all-inside reconstruction technique was utilized with retrograde tunnel creation. An adjustable-loop device was used for femoral and tibial fixation of all grafts. The suture tape was placed through the tension loop in the femoral fixation construct and independently fixed in the tibia with an interference screw anchor. For each specimen, the authors recorded ultimate load, yield load, stiffness, cyclic displacement, and mode of failure. Outcomes between groups were compared using the Student test.

Results: There was a 33% decrease in mean cyclic displacement in the specimens with reinforced grafts (reinforced vs control: 3.9 ± 0.7 vs 5.8 ± 1.5 mm; = .001). The reinforced grafts also had a 22% higher mean ultimate load (921 ± 180 vs 717 ± 122 N; = .008) and a 25% higher mean yield load (808 ± 201 vs 602 ± 155 N; = .020). There was no significant difference in stiffness between the reinforced versus nonreinforced grafts (136 ± 16 vs 132 ± 18 N/mm; = .617). Three of the 10 control specimens failed at the graft, compared with 1 of 10 reinforced grafts. All other constructs in both groups failed at the tibial fixation site.

Conclusion: Suture tape reinforcement of soft tissue grafts significantly decreased cyclic displacement while significantly increasing ultimate and yield loads without increasing graft construct stiffness during biomechanical testing at time zero in a porcine animal model.

Clinical Relevance: The improved biomechanical performance of suture tape-reinforced graft constructs could allow patients to participate in earlier advancement of aggressive rehabilitation and potentially reduce failure rates as graft remodeling progresses.