Comparative study on arthroscopic anchors fixation versus Ethibond suture fixation for anterior crueiate ligament tibial avulsion fractures

Abstract

Objective \nTo compare the clinical results between arthroscopic anchor suture bridge and Ethibond suture bone tunnel for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tibial avulsion fractures. \n \n \nMethods \nA retrospective case control study was conducted to analyze the clinical data of 18 patients with ACL tibial avulsion fracture admitted to Wenzhou Central Hospital from June 2012 to June 2017. There were 14 males and four females, aged 12-57 years, with an average age of 31.4 years. According to the Meyers-McKeever classification, there were six patients with type II and 12 patients with type III. Seven patients underwent anchor suture bridge fixation (anchor group), and 11 patients underwent Ethibond suture bone tunnel fixation (Ethibond suture group). The operation time, range of motion (ROM) of knee joint, Lysholm knee score and International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) knee score of the two groups were compared before operation and 3, 6 and 12 months after operation. \n \n \nResults \nAll patients were followed up for 12-36 months, with an average of 20.18 months. The operation time of anchor group [(87.14±8.59)minutes]was longer than that of Ethibond suture group [(71.1±11.5)minutes](P 0.05). But the functional knee scores (Lysholm score and the IKDC score) revealed better clinical results in anchor group [(91.9±3.0)points, (85.6±4.1) points respectively] than Ethibond suture group [(88.6±3.3)points, (79.9±4.9)points respectively] at 3 months after surgery (P 0.05). \n \n \nConclusions \nBoth arthroscopic anchor and Ethibond suture can achieve plane fixation of fracture, but there is no significant difference in the long-term effect of improving knee joint mobility and restoring knee joint function between the two approaches. However, the anchor group can achieve early recovery of knee joint function. \n \n \nKey words: \nArthroscopy;\xa0Anterior cruciate ligament;\xa0Fracture fixation, internal