Surgical Technique

A novel technique with Dacron vascular graft augmentation for knee extensor mechanism repairs: Technical note

¹ Unidade Local de Saúde do Alto Minho, 4904-858 Viana do Castelo, Portugal
² Hospital Central do Funchal, 9000-177 Madeira, Portugal
³ Università degli Studi di Firenze, AOU Careggi, 50121 Firenze, Italy
⁴ Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, University of Antwerp, 2610 WILRIJK Antwerp, Belgium
⁵ Orthoca, AZ Monica, 2100 Antwerp, Belgium

^* Corresponding author: almost_romulo@hotmail.com

Received: 10 December 2021
Accepted: 27 June 2022

Abstract

Ruptures of the extensor apparatus can have different etiologies and be complicated by underlying situations. Direct repair is not always possible, and reconstruction procedures can be insufficient, which leads to the appearance of multiple augmentation techniques to improve the strength of these constructs. Despite the proven results of these techniques, numerous procedures are described without any gold standard. We present our augmentation method for repairing the knee extensor apparatus with a vascular prosthesis that facilitates healing, does not interfere with the primary procedure, has no donor morbidity or rejection risk, and allows earlier mobilization and rehabilitation. The technique was used in different cases with multiple etiologies that needed reinforcement, with promising results.