Strength of the fixation of patellar tendon bone grafts using a totally absorbable self-reinforced poly-L-lactide expansion plug and screw. An experimental study in a bovine cadaver.

In a bovine cadaver study, bone-tendon-bone graft fixation strength with different graft geometry and fixation devices was measured to evaluate the fixation strength of totally absorbable implants: a 6.0-mm expansion plug and 6.3-mm screw both made of self-reinforced polylactide (SR-PLLA). Comparison was made with 6.5-mm AO cancellous screw. Maximum tensile force to dislodge the bone plug from the bone tunnel was recorded. First, two preliminary tests were performed. In the first test, triangular bone plugs were used (9-mm diameter). The direction of the pull force was parallel to the bone tunnel. The maximum tensile forces were 786 N in femoral insertions and 625 N in tibial insertions, mean. After this, we evaluated the influence of change in the pullout direction. In the second test, a circular bone plug was used with no fixation but the direction of the pull force was parallel to the tibial or femoral axis and the bone plug (10-mm diameter) was in a 30 degrees to 40 degrees angle to the direction of the pull force and it was compressed to the tunnel (9-mm diameter). The maximum tensile forces were 783 N in femoral insertions and 695 N in tibial insertions, mean. In the final third test, we used a curved saw in harvesting the graft. This made a half-circular bone block with a diameter of 12 mm. The maximum tensile force to dislodge the bone plug from the bone tunnel was recorded and the pull force was in a 30 degrees to 40 degrees angle to the tunnel. The results were evaluated with Student's t-test and Mann-Whitney U-test. With the AO screw, the maximum tensile force to dislodge the bone plug from the bone tunnel was 2,113 +/- 407 N (mean +/- standard deviation) and it was better than the fixation strength of the SR-PLLA expansion plug, 1,379 +/- 328 N (P = .009, t-test) and better than the fixation strength of SR-PLLA screw, 1,454 +/- 230 N (P = .007, t-test). However, the maximum tensile force of both SR-PLLA implants in all measurements in the third test were above 1,100 N and it seems that the initial strength of totally absorbable implants is enough for the clinical use.