• Attila Pavlik, Péter Hidas, András Tállay, József Toman, and István Berkes.
• National Institute for Sports Medicine, Department of Sports Surgery, Budapest, Hungary. pavlika@t-online.hu
• Am J Sports Med. 2006 Feb 1; 34 (2): 220-5.

BackgroundThe security of the graft fixation is an important factor of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction, especially in the early postoperative period.HypothesisThe femoral press-fit fixation technique is a safe, alternative technique for the fixation of the bone-patellar tendon-bone graft.Study DesignCase series; Level of evidence, 4.MethodsBetween January 1, 1998, and June 30, 2002, 285 patients, with a mean age of 29.1 years, underwent operation and observation in our department. All patients had arthroscopic anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction using bone-patellar tendon-bone graft with femoral press-fit and tibial interference screw fixation. The mean follow-up period was 35.8 months (range, 24-77 months). During each patient's evaluation, a physical examination, a subjective evaluation, the International Knee Documentation Committee and Lysholm scores, KT-1000 arthrometer testing, and radiological evaluation were performed. The paired Student t test or chi(2) test was used for statistical analysis.ResultsAccording to the International Knee Documentation Committee score, 241 patients (85%) had good (46 normal and 195 nearly normal) results, whereas 39 patients had abnormal and 5 patients had severely abnormal overall results. The preoperative mean Lysholm score was 63.5 +/- 12.7 points. At the final examination, the mean value was 93.5 +/- 7.8 points (P < .01). One hundred ninety-seven athletes could return to their previous sports activity level, whereas 13 patients gave up their sports career. The KT-1000 arthrometer results showed a side-to-side difference of 1.91 +/- 2.1 mm at the maximum manual strength tests.ConclusionThe femoral press-fit fixation is an alternative fixation method for the bone-patellar tendon-bone graft and provides good stability for the anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. The use of press-fit fixation technique avoids most interference screw or other hardware-induced complications at the femoral side.

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