Sterile Pretibial Abscess After Anterior Cruciate Reconstruction From Bioabsorbable Interference Screws: A Report of 2 Cases

Bone Tunnel Widening with Autogenous Bone Plugs Versus Bioabsorbable Interference Screws for Secondary Fixation in ACL Reconstruction

“…To avoid these potential problems, bioabsorbable screws have been proposed for graft fixation. However, several adverse complications, such as fractured screws, transcutaneous migration of a screw, cyst formation with osteolysis, abscess formation, and inflammatory reaction, have been reported with bioabsorbable screws [5][6][7][8] .…”

Do Newer-Generation Bioabsorbable Screws Become Incorporated into Bone at Two Years After ACL Reconstruction with Patellar Tendon Graft?

“…In August 2007, the CALAXO screw was removed from the market by the manufacturer because of increasing reports [8][9][10][11][12] of postoperative complications related to the screw degradation properties; these complications included screw swelling and prominence noted at the tibial bone tunnel used for graft fixation from two to thirty-six weeks after implantation. As a result of this development, the MILAGRO bioabsorbable screw (DePuy Synthes, Warsaw, Indiana) was used by the senior author thereafter.…”

Case Report: Fibroxanthoma

“…The benefits of biodegradable screws, however, come with more complications. The reported complications of biodegradable screws are osteolysis around the screw [17], allergic reaction [15], and extraarticular pretibial sterile abscess [4]. Other reported complications are transcutaneous [18] and intraarticular migration [2], recurrent pretibial ganglion cyst formation [19], and intraarticular granuloma formation [7].…”

“…They have similar or superior fixation strength in comparison to metallic interference screws [11,21]. However, they have complications such as cyst and abscess formation [4,7,19,20], breakage, and intraarticular migration [2,18]. Although no fibroxanthoma as a complication of biodegradable screws has been reported in the English literature, a literature search shows sarcoma [9] and malignant fibrous histiocytoma [1,8] in response to other orthopaedic implants.…”