Repair and Kennedy LAD Augmentation to Posterior Cruciate Ligament Injury

Sung, Jin Hyung; Kim, Weon Yoo; Park, Jong Hun; Yoon, Jong Kie; Kim, Jin Young

Abstract

The significance of the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) in the stability of the knee and the necessity for surgical repair of its tears are still controversial. The purpose of this study is to present the short term results of surgical repair and Kennedy LAD augmentation for 15 cases with PCL injury. In 14 patients (15 knees), the torn PCL was repaired with pullout suture technique and Kennedy LAD augmentation was done from june 1993 to june 1994. The follow-up period ranged from 12 months to 25 months (average, 18months). The main causes of injuries were traffic accidents in 12. Thirteen of the patients were men and one was a woman, ranging in age from 17 to 52 years(average, 35 years). 10 knees were acute injury and repaired at average 9 days after injury. There were 11 cases that had combined injuries(4 ACL injuries, 4 meniscus injuries, 3 MCL injuries etc). In eight knees, the tear was in mid substance area and in five it was near femoral attach site and in two it was near tibial attach site. Postoperative results were evaluated by roentgenographic evaluation of posterior sagging and Lysholm knee score. 11 knee were stable but 4 knees were unstable posteriorly during postoperative follow-up period. 3 chronic injuried knees were included in 4 posteriorly unstable knees. There are 7 combined knee injuries in 11 stable knees and no combined injuries in unstable knees and average Lysholm knee score was 89.7 in stable knees and 90 in unstable knees and there was no significant difference between two groups. On the based of this study, surgical repair with pollout suture technique and augmentation with Kennedy LAD in acute PCL injury is a one of the good method for preventing posterior sagging but more longer follow-up period and more cases must be needed to accept this method.