Revision anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction with doubled semitendinosus and gracilis tendons and lateral extra-articular reconstruction

BACKGROUND: The outcome of revision anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction has only rarely been reported. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the results of revision anterior cruciate ligament surgery with use of an autogenous doubled semitendinosus and gracilis graft in association with an extra-articular procedure. METHODS: Between 1997 and 2003, thirty patients underwent a repeat reconstruction of a previously reconstructed torn anterior cruciate ligament with use of a doubled semitendinosus and gracilis graft combined with an extra-articular reconstruction. Primary reconstruction had been done with an autogenous patellar tendon graft in twenty-six patients and with a prosthetic ligament in four patients; the average time from the primary reconstruction to the revision was five years. Functional outcomes, graft survival, and radiographic outcomes were evaluated at a mean of five years. A graft was considered to have failed when a revision was done or when the side-to-side difference on KT-1000 arthrometer testing was >5 mm and/or the pivot-shift test grade was greater than a trace. RESULTS: One patient underwent another revision reconstruction because of graft failure at three years postoperatively. The mean International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) subjective knee score for the remaining twenty-nine patients was 84 +/- 12 points, and the mean Lysholm knee score was 90 +/- 10 points. The side-to-side difference as measured with the KT-1000 arthrometer with maximum manual force was <3 mm in twenty patients (of the twenty-eight who returned for follow-up), between 3 and 5 mm in six patients, and >5 mm in two patients. The result of the pivot shift examination was normal in fifteen patients, slightly positive in eleven patients, and positive in two patients. Twenty-five percent of the patients showed no radiographic signs of degenerative joint disease. CONCLUSIONS: Revision anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction with use of an autogenous doubled semitendinosus and gracilis graft combined with an extra-articular procedure provided satisfactory functional outcomes, with a failure rate of 10%.