Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction with Internal Brace Augmentation Results in Fewer Reruptures Compared to Reconstruction without Augmentation

Objective To compare the clinical outcomes of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction using autografts with and without internal brace augmentation. Methods Data from patients who underwent ACL reconstruction with hamstring and quadriceps tendon autografts, with a minimum follow-up of one year, with or without internal brace augmentation were collected prospectively analyzed retrospectively. The Lysholm and Tegner functional scores were collected before and after surgery, as well as data on postoperative complications. For the comparison of means of the two groups, we used the Student t test or the Mann-Whitney non-parametric test, when the assumption of normality of the data was rejected. Results In total, 55 patients underwent ACL reconstruction with internal brace augmentation and another 55 patients underwent ACL reconstruction without internal brace augmentation. The patients were aged between 16 and 63 years (mean of 32.7 +/- 11.4 years). A total of 62 patients (56.4%) underwent ACL reconstruction with hamstring graft, and 19 patients (17.3%), with quadriceps tendon graft, with a diameter variation of 7 mm to 11 mm (mean of 8.95 +/- 0.83 mm). The postoperative scores did not differ between the groups ( p > 0.05). Regarding the group submitted to ACL reconstruction with internal brace augmentation, 4 patients had complications: @ cases of arthrofibrosis, 2 (3.7%); 1 case of rerupture (1.8%); and 1 case of thrombosis (1.8%). In the group submitted to ACL reconstruction without augmentation, 7 patients manifested complications: 2 cases of arthrofibrosis (3.9%); 4 cases of rerupture (7.3%); and 1 case of infection (2%). Conclusion The results of the present study show that fewer cases of ACL rerupture were observed after reconstruction with internal brace augmentation when compared with ACL reconstruction without augmentation, although no differences in functional scores were found.