Objective

Delayed radiographs are routinely done to help in diagnosis of occult scaphoid fractures. Our aim was to determine the diagnostic value of these late x-rays.

Aim: The purpose of the study was to assess the outcome results of an artificial bioprosthetic ligament used at Mayday University Hospital for ACL reconstruction in a cohort of patients after 1992 following the introduction of special instrumentation and to compare it with the results in an earlier cohort of patients. A high incidence of implant failure including rupture and stretching was noted in the early cohort with a 44% failure rate noted at three years following implantation. A mode of failure analysis led to the development of a modification of the implant, and introduction of new surgical instrumentation resulting in an improved implantation technique.

Method: The Fresh cohort of patients was reviewed after the introduction of the new surgical instrumentation in 1992. 80 out of 111 operated patients were available for follow-up. There was 21.6 % failure rate and the following objective and subjective parameters were used: side to side difference measurements using the KT2000 arthrometer, average Lysholm score, average Tegner score and average Mohtadi score. The mean SSD was 3.14mm, the average Lysholm score was 74.93, the average Tegner score was 4.72 and the average Mohtadi score was 45.32.

Conclusion: We were able to review 71% of patients operated on since 1992 using the above outcome measures. We concluded that the introduction of new surgical instrumentations and alterations in surgical technique since 1992 has improved the outcome following this type of surgery, although these results do not match the best reported for autologous ACL reconstruction.