Riassunto dello studio

One hundred patients scheduled for an anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction were randomized to receive a quadriceps tendon autograft or hamstring tendon autograft. The primary outcome of interest was the International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) score. Secondary outcomes of interest included objective measures of knee stability (maximum sagittal knee translation, pivot shift test, one-leg hop test) and the donor site morbidity score. Additionally, Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) sub-scores, Tegner activity score, Kujala scores and the incidence of adverse events were reported. Follow up occurred up to 2 years post-operation. Results revealed significantly favourable donor site morbidity scores in the quadriceps graft group compared to the hamstring graft groups. One-leg hop test results compared to the uninjured side were significantly in favour of the hamstring graft group. Otherwise, the quadriceps tendon graft was non-inferior to the hamstring tendon graft in all outcomes.