Peroneus Longus Tendon Autograft for Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction: A Safe and Effective Alternative in Nonathletic Patients.

Introduction: Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is a common injury which has been conventionally managed by various graft reconstruction using bone patellar tendon bone, or quadruple hamstring autograft, to name a few. However, all these grafts are associated with many complications. Lately, peroneus longus tendon (PLT) autograft has shown promising results in this field, although there is still a dearth of data on its use. We, therefore, aimed at carrying out a study to evaluate the functional outcome and knee stability results of ACL reconstruction using PLT graft.

Patients and Methods: Patients with a completely torn ACL were included in the study. The PLT was harvested, and graft length, thickness, and harvesting time were noted intraoperatively. Knee stability and functional scores were evaluated clinically and using Lachman test (primarily) and KT-2000 arthrometer and subjectively with International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) score at 6, 12, and 24 months (secondary outcome) postoperatively. Ankle scores were also recorded by making use of American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Score (AOFAS)-Hindfoot Scale.

Results: Forty-eight patients met the inclusion criteria. The graft harvest time was 7.4 min (5-9 min). The mean thickness of the graft on doubling was 7.9 mm (7-9 mm). Ninety-six percent of the patients were satisfied with their results of the knee surgery, and 95% of the patients had no complaints of ankle joint. The mean IKDC score postoperatively was 78.16 ± 6.23, and the mean AOFAS score was 98.4 ± 4.1. None of the patients had any neurovascular deficit.

Conclusion: ACL reconstruction using PLT graft yields a good functional score (IKDC, KT-2000 arthrometer) even at 2-year follow-up. It is a safe and effective autograft option for ACL reconstruction.