Papers of the Week

More than 120,000 anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries occur every year in the United States, mostly during the high school and college years. The incidence of these injuries is slowly increasing, especially in females. This is likely caused by their increasing participation in high school and other organized sports. In addition, several studies have shown that female athletes are at an increased risk of ACL injury in sex comparable sports. The goal of this study was to evaluate the functional outcome of Arthroscopic anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction using Bone-Patellar tendon- Bone autograft. 25 patients with chronic ACL deficient knee presenting to Mymensingh Medical College Hospital (MMCH), Mymensingh, Bangladesh from January 2018 to December 2019 were included in the study. The patients with severe osteoarthritis (OA) knee, local active infection and systemic disease, intraarticular fracture of knee that might influence the study results were excluded from the study. Bone patellar tendon bone graft was harvested from ipsilateral knee. The patient was followed till 6 months with specified program of rehabilitation. Results were evaluated by an independent examiner using radiography, subjective and objective evaluation. Assessment using Lysholm's score was 50 (42-63) preoperatively and 90.8 (63-97) at the latest follow up (p<0.005). No patient complained of instability at latest follow up. The quadriceps muscle showed atrophy at final follow-up. Five Patients complained of anterior knee pain. We found no graft displacement on follow up radiographs. Osteo-integration occurred in all cases. ACLR with a BPTB graft can stabilize the knee without loss of motion by closely mimicking the native ACL without any hazards and additional complications. It is useful in high demand patients and cost effective option with high patient satisfaction rate for reconstruction of ACL.