Research Article

Ceramic Bone Graft Substitutes do not reduce donor-site morbidity in ACL reconstruction surgeries: a pilot study

¹ Department of Orthopaedics, Meenakshi Mission Hospital, Madurai, India
² Department of Orthopaedics, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi, India
³ Department of Orthopaedics, Lakeshore Hospital and Research Centre, Kochi, India
⁴ Department of Orthopaedics, Sparsh Hospital, Bangalore, India
⁵ Bioceramic lLaboratory, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences, Trivandrum, India
⁶ Department of Orthopaedics, AIIMS, Bhubaneswar, India

^* Corresponding author: jaithilak@gmail.com

Received: 19 November 2018
Accepted: 8 April 2019

Abstract

Introduction: Anterior knee pain is a major problem following Bone-patellar-tendon-bone graft (BPTB) use in anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. We hypothesized that filling the donor defect sites with bone-graft substitute would reduce the anterior knee symptoms in ACL reconstruction surgeries.

Material and Methods: Patients operated for ACL-deficient knee between March 2012 and August 2013 using BPTB graft were divided into two treatment groups. The patellar and tibial donor-site bony defects were filled-up with Hydroxyapatite–Bioglass (HAP:BG) blocks in the study group (n = 15) and no filler was used in the control group (n = 16). At 2 years, the clinical improvement was assessed using International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) score and donor-site morbidity was assessed by questionnaires and specific tests related to anterior knee pain symptoms.

Results: Donor-site tenderness was present in 40% patients in the study group and 37.5% patients in the control group (p = 0.59). Pain upon kneeling was present in 33.3% patients in the study group and 37.5% patients in the control group (p = 0.55). Walking in kneeling position elicited pain in 40% patients in the study group and 43.8% in the control group (p = 0.56). The mean visual analogue score for knee pain was 3.0 in the study group and 3.13 in the control group, with no statistically significant difference (p = 0.68). Unlike control group, where a persistent bony depression defect was observed at donor sites, no such defects were observed in the study group.

Conclusion: Filling the defects of donor sites with HAP:BG blocks do not reduce the anterior knee symptoms in patients with ACL reconstruction using autogenous BPTB graft.