Graduate School of Health and Sports Science, Juntendo University, Japan; Department of Sport Science and Research, Japan Institute of Sports Sciences, Japan.
Graduate School of Health and Sports Science, Juntendo University, Japan.
Clin Biomech (Bristol). 2024 Oct;119:106329. doi: 10.1016/j.clinbiomech.2024.106329. Epub 2024 Aug 17.
The semitendinosus tendon is one of the most used autografts in anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. Although recent evidence indicates that young patients, especially in females, may experience high rates of revision and residual instability, the reasons for the inferior outcomes in these patients remain unclear. To address this issue, we aimed to compare the mechanical properties of the semitendinosus tendon used for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction in male and female patients of various ages.
The semitendinosus tendons harvested from 31 male and 29 female patients who underwent anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction surgery using the semitendinosus tendon autografts were used in this study. Using the distal part of the harvested semitendinosus tendon, the extent of cyclic loading-induced elongation (i.e., the extent of the increase in slack length) and the Young's modulus were measured during cyclic tensile testing.
Spearman correlation analyses revealed that the Young's modulus (|ρ| = 0.725, P < 0.001), but not elongation (|ρ| ≤ 0.036, P ≥ 0.351) positively correlated with the patient age in male tendon samples. In contrast, for female tendon samples, the elongation (|ρ| ≥ 0.415, P ≤ 0.025), but not the Young's modulus (|ρ| = 0.087, P = 0.655) negatively correlated with the patient age.
These results indicate that the semitendinosus tendon used for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction in young male patients is compliant, whereas that in young female patients is susceptible to elongation induced by cyclic loading.
半腱肌腱是前交叉韧带重建中最常用的自体移植物之一。尽管最近的证据表明，年轻患者，尤其是女性患者，可能会经历较高的翻修率和残留不稳定，但这些患者结局较差的原因仍不清楚。为了解决这个问题，我们旨在比较不同年龄的男性和女性前交叉韧带重建患者使用的半腱肌腱的力学性能。
本研究使用了 31 名男性和 29 名女性前交叉韧带重建患者的半腱肌腱进行研究。使用所采集的半腱肌腱的远端部分，在循环拉伸测试过程中测量循环加载诱导的伸长程度（即松弛长度的增加程度）和杨氏模量。
Spearman 相关分析表明，杨氏模量（|ρ|=0.725，P<0.001），而不是伸长率（|ρ|≤0.036，P≥0.351）与男性肌腱样本中的患者年龄呈正相关。相比之下，对于女性肌腱样本，伸长率（|ρ|≥0.415，P≤0.025），而不是杨氏模量（|ρ|=0.087，P=0.655）与患者年龄呈负相关。
这些结果表明，年轻男性患者前交叉韧带重建中使用的半腱肌腱具有顺应性，而年轻女性患者的半腱肌腱容易受到循环加载引起的伸长。
