Graft Site Morbidity with Autogenous Semitendinosus and Gracilis Tendons

Abstract

To distinguish between morbidity caused by harvesting semitendinosus and gracilis tendons and morbidity as sociated with anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction surgery, we performed a prospective randomized study using 65 patients who underwent anterior cruciate liga ment reconstruction using these tendons. The patients underwent either contralateral ( N = 34) or ipsilateral (N = 31) graft harvest. For the nonoperated knees in the ipsilateral harvest group, isometric and isokinetic strength of the quadriceps and hamstring muscles in creased to approximately 120% of the preoperative value at 12 months after surgery. Compared with these knees, the tendon harvest did not affect quadriceps muscle strength at all. However, harvest did decrease hamstring muscles strength for 9 months after surgery. The graft harvest in the knees with anterior cruciate liga ment reconstruction also did not significantly affect quadriceps muscle strength, but it did significantly de crease hamstring muscles strength only at 1 month. Activity-related soreness at the donor site was rarely restricting and resolved by 3 months. This study dem onstrated that the semitendinosus and gracilis tendon graft is a reasonable choice to minimize the donor site morbidity in ligament reconstruction using autografts.