Hamstring Tendon Grafts Hike Knee Revision Risk

After controlling for confounding variables, researchers using data from the Norwegian Knee Ligament Registry discovered a 2.3 times greater risk for revision when primary ACL reconstruction was performed with hamstring tendon grafts compared to patellar tendon grafts.

“Patients with [hamstring tendon] HT grafts had twice the risk of revision compared with patients with [patellar tendon] PT grafts. Younger age was the most important risk factor for revision, and no effect was seen for sex. Further studies should be conducted to identify the cause of the increased revision rate found for HT grafts,” Andreas Persson, M.D., and colleagues wrote in their study.

The researchers found that 362 of the 9,215 patients (5.1 percent) who underwent ACL reconstruction with HT grafts were later revised during the mean follow up of 4 years compared with 69 of the 3,428 patients (2.1 percent) who had PT grafts. The overall revision rate for the study at 5 years was 4.2 percent.

The investigators found a 7.8 percent revision rate for the youngest patients (aged 15 years to 19 years) and a 1.8 percent revision rate for the oldest patients (aged 30 years and older).