Knee Hyperextension Greater Than 5° Is a Risk Factor for Failure in ACL Reconstruction Using Hamstring Graft.

Background: The degree of knee hyperextension in isolation has not been studied in detail as a risk factor that could lead to increased looseness or graft failure after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction.

Purpose: To analyze whether more than 5° of passive knee hyperextension is associated with worse functional outcomes and greater risk of graft failure after primary ACL reconstruction with hamstring tendon autograft.

Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3.

Methods: A cohort of patients who had primary ACL reconstruction with hamstring tendon autografts was divided into 2 groups based on passive contralateral knee hyperextension greater than 5° (hyperextension group) and less than 5° (control group) of hyperextension. Groups were matched by age, sex, and associated meniscal tears. The following data were collected and compared between the groups: patient data (age and sex), time from injury to surgery, passive knee hyperextension, KT-1000 arthrometer laxity, pivot shift, associated meniscal injury and treatment (meniscectomy or repair), contralateral knee ligament injury, intra-articular graft size, follow-up time, occurrence of graft failure, and postoperative Lysholm knee scale and International Knee Documentation Committee subjective form scores.

Results: Data from 358 patients initially included in the study were analyzed; 22 were excluded because the time from injury to surgery was greater than 24 months, and 22 were lost to follow-up. From the cohort of 314 patients, 102 had more than 5° of knee hyperextension. A control group of the same size (n = 102) was selected by matching among the other 212 patients. Significant differences in the incidence of graft failure (14.7% vs 2.9%; = .005) and Lysholm knee scale score (86.4 ± 9.8 vs 89.6 ± 6.1; = .018) were found between the 2 groups.

Conclusion: Patients with more than 5° of contralateral knee hyperextension submitted to single-bundle ACL reconstruction with hamstring tendons have a higher failure rate than patients with less than 5° of knee hyperextension.