Semitendinosus and gracilis transfer for treatment of medial collateral ligament injury of total knee arthroplasty

J.-G. Cao, L. Wang, H.-W. Zhao, J. Liu

Department of Joint Surgery, Tianjin Orthopaedics Hospital, Tianjin, P.R. China. realcjg@sina.com

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• Orthopedics

OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study is to evaluate the clinic effectiveness of semitendinosus and gracilis transfer for the treatment of medial collateral ligament (MCL) injury of total knee arthroplasty (TKA).

PATIENTS AND METHODS: From March 2009 to May 2014, a series of 11 patients with MCL injuries of primary TKA were treated by semitendinosus and gracilis transfer. Another 18 patients (21 knees) were recruited as control group. The two groups of patients were comparable for gender, age, body mass index, varus knee deformity, KSS score, joint activity degree and type of prosthesis comparison without significant difference (p > 0.05). All the patients were regularly followed-up using the American Knee Society Scoring System (KSS).

RESULTS: No patient of either group reported impaired wound healing, joint instability, pain, prosthesis loosening and other complications. At the final follow-up, the mean knee objective score and the functional score of the injury group include (89.82 ± 3.76) points and (89.54 ± 3.50) points, respectively. The control group includes (90.19 ± 3.39) and (90 ± 3.53) points. They were significantly higher than the preoperative conditions. The difference was not statistically significant. The difference of KSS score was not statistically significant (t = 0.158, p = 0.877; t = 0.820, p = 0.432).

CONCLUSIONS: The semitendinosus and gracilis transfer are reliable for the treatment of MCL injury of TKA. The semitendinosus and gracilis are close to the knee MCL, which can effectively improve knee function.

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