%0 Journal Article
%T Patellar Tendon Repair Augmentation With a Knotless Suture Anchor Internal Brace: A Biomechanical Cadaveric Study
%A Alex Rothfeld
%A Amanda Pawlak
%A James M. Paci
%A Michael Morris
%A Stephenie A.H. Liebler
%J The American Journal of Sports Medicine
%@ 1552-3365
%D 2018
%R 10.1177/0363546517751916
%X Patellar tendon repair with braided polyethylene suture alone is subject to knot slippage and failure. Several techniques to augment the primary repair have been described. The purpose was to evaluate a novel patellar tendon repair technique augmented with a knotless suture anchor internal brace with suture tape (SAIB). The hypothesis was that this technique would be biomechanically superior to a nonaugmented repair and equivalent to a standard augmentation with an 18-gauge steel wire. Controlled laboratory study. Midsubstance patellar tendon tears were created in 32 human cadaveric knees. Two comparison groups were created. Group 1 compared #2 supersuture repair without augmentation to #2 supersuture repair with SAIB augmentation. Group 2 compared #2 supersuture repair with an 18-gauge stainless steel cerclage wire augmentation to #2 supersuture repair with SAIB augmentation. The specimens were potted and biomechanically loaded on a materials testing machine. Yield load, maximum load, mode of failure, plastic displacement, elastic displacement, and total displacement were calculated for each sample. Standard statistical analysis was performed. There was a statistically significant increase in the mean ¡À SD yield load and maximum load in the SAIB augmentation group compared with supersuture alone (mean yield load: 646 ¡À 202 N vs 229 ¡À 60 N; mean maximum load: 868 ¡À 162 N vs 365 ¡À 54 N; P < .001). Group 2 showed no statistically significant differences between the augmented repairs (mean yield load: 495 ¡À 213 N vs 566 ¡À 172 N; P = .476; mean maximum load: 737 ¡À 210 N vs 697 ¡À 130 N; P = .721). Patellar tendon repair augmented with SAIB is biomechanically superior to repair without augmentation and is equivalent to repair with augmentation with an 18-gauge stainless steel cerclage wire. This novel patellar tendon repair augmentation is equivalent to standard 18-gauge wire augmentation at time zero. It does not require a second surgery for removal, and it is biomechanically superior to primary repair alone
%K patellar tendon
%K internal brace
%K knotless repair
%K knee
%K ligament
%K tendon
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0363546517751916