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Morphometry of the semitendinosus and gracilis tendons with application to anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction

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Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy Aims and scope

Abstract

The length and cross-sectional area of human semitendinosus and gracilis tendons were measured in both single- and multi-strand configurations for the purpose of anterior cruciate ligament graft preparation. The average lengths of the semitendinosus and the gracilis tendons were 235±20 mm (mean±SD) and 200±17 mm, respectively. The cross-sectional area of a doubled semitendinosus tendon (two strands) was significantly less than that of a 10-mm-wide patellar tendon graft (P<0.001). The cross-sectional area of the tripled semitendinosus tendon (three strands) and the 10-mm-wide patellar tendon were similar. Doubling of the combined semitendinosus and gracilis tendons (four strands) and tripling of this combination (six strands) resulted in a significantly greater cross-sectional area in comparison to the 10-mm-wide patellar tendon (P<0.05, four strands;P<0.001 six strands). This investigation demonstrates that anterior cruciate ligament grafts fashioned using multiple-strand combinations of the semitendinosus and gracilis tendons result in a cross-sectional area that is comparable to the bone-patellar tendon-bone graft. This is an important finding since cross-sectional area reflects the intra-articular volume of collagenous tissue. This information should be helpful to surgeons considering using the hamstring tendons as an anterior cruciate ligament graft.

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Tohyama, H., Beynnon, B.D., Johnson, R.J. et al. Morphometry of the semitendinosus and gracilis tendons with application to anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. Knee Surg, Sports traumatol, Arthroscopy 1, 143–147 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01560195

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