Minimally Invasive Bone-Patellar Tendon-Bone Graft Harvest Is Associated With Less Frequent Anterior Knee Pain at Rest Than Hamstring Graft Harvest After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction at the 1-Year Follow-Up

PURPOSE: To compare the incidence of postoperative anterior knee pain at rest and during “knee walking” in patients who had anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) surgery with hamstring tendon (HT) grafts versus bone-patellar tendon-bone (BPTB) grafts harvested using a minimally invasive double-incision technique with autografting of the bone harvest defects. METHODS: Adult patients who had undergone an ACLR and had completed a questionnaire enquiring about anterior knee symptoms at a minimum of 1 year postoperatively were identified. Two groups were compared: 1) patients who had received a BPTB graft harvested using a minimally invasive double-incision technique with autografting of the bone harvest defects, and 2) patients who had received a HT graft. RESULTS: A total of 142 adult patients were included: 88 had a BPTB graft and 54 had a HT graft. The prevalence of anterior knee pain at rest was 10% in the BPTB group and 28% in the HT group (P = .006). Overall, knee walking scores were worse in the BPTB group when compared to the HG group, but the difference in the proportions of patients who found it impossible to knee-walk was not statistically significant (17% vs 6%; P = .069). CONCLUSIONS: Our results showed that pain at rest was less in the BTPB group compared to the HT group contradicting historic literature. In addition, there was no statistically significant difference between the 2 grafts when comparing the proportion of patients who found it “impossible” to knee-walk. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level III, retrospective comparative study.