The Resistance Force of the Anterior Cruciate Ligament during Pull Probing Is Related to the Mechanical Property

Abstract

There are various methods for reconstructing the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) from other muscles or tendons. Initial tension of the reconstructed ACL is one of the key elements affecting postoperative outcomes. However, tension cannot be measured after graft fixation. The only intraoperative assessment is pull probing, which is performed by pulling joint soft tissues with the arthroscopic probe and can be measured quantitatively. Therefore, its value might be used as an alternative value for the mechanical property of the ACL. Using a probing device one author developed to measure the resistance force of soft tissues quantitatively while probing, we measured the resistance force of dissected ACLs and used tensile testing to investigate the correlation between the resistance force and the mechanical property of the ligaments. According to the results, when a certain amount of tension (strain; 16.6%) was applied, its mechanical properties were moderately correlated (r = 0.56 [p = 0.045]) with the probing force. Therefore, the tension of the reconstructed ACL after fixation under real ACL reconstruction surgery can be derived from the value of the probing device.