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Scientific Articles:
Bruce D. Beynnon, Robert J. Johnson, Braden C. Fleming, Pekka Kannus, Michael Kaplan, John Samani, and Per Renström
Anterior Cruciate Ligament Replacement: Comparison of Bone-Patellar Tendon-Bone Grafts with Two-Strand Hamstring Grafts : A Prospective, Randomized Study
J Bone Joint Surg Am 2002; 84: 1503-1513 [Abstract] [Full text] [PDF]
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[Read Letter to the Editor] Longer term results May be more Significant
Chatenya Chauhan   (5 September 2002)

Longer term results May be more Significant 5 September 2002
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Chatenya Chauhan,
Lower Limb Orthopaedic Surgeon
Bradford Royal Infirmary

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Re: Longer term results May be more Significant

chet{at}btinternet.com Chatenya Chauhan

May I congratulate the authors on a this paper. Historically the objective of fixing a torn ACL was to prevent symptomatic instability. It is interesting that objectively the knee with hamstring is more lax. The effects of the laxity will cause an increase in shear forces on the cartilage and an increase in contact pressure resulting in earlier onset of degeneration. These effects will take much longer to assess, and also if there has been other intra articular surgery than this too will increase the liklyhood of degenerative changes. Perhaps it is time to reassess our goals and look for tighter tolerances of repair.