Semitendinosus tendon morphometry as a graft – A cadaver study

Abstract

Background: Sports and games have become professional activities. The standard of fitness level is raised. Advancement in arthroscopic anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction using free tendon graft is one of the key developments. Autograft with minimal donor site or functional morbidity is the key. The latest is the use of semitendinosus in ACL reconstruction. Preoperative knowledge of graft in terms of size is crucial. The present cadaveric study is an attempt to understand the morphology of the semitendinosus tendon (ST) as tendon graft in the local population. Methodology: A total of 50 male cadaver limbs embalmed with formalin were used for harvesting 50 STs. The exact age and height of the cadavers were not known. The femoral length was used as a measure of body height. Tendon length and quadruple diameters were measured. Anderson–Darling test was used for distribution analysis of all the data. Results: In our study, mean length of the tendon was 27.12 cm which is shorter than the required 28 cm for quadrupling the tendon. The average diameter was 8.14 mm which is slightly more than the minimum required thickness of 8 mm. These two findings suggest that tendons in the Indian population are not long enough for an ideal quadruple graft with more than 8 mm diameter. Conclusion: The result of our study is in conformation with the previous studies on the Indian population and also in the Western population. The height of the individual can be inferred from length of the femur; hence, height can be taken as a good predictor for the length of ST in the Indian population.

Keywords

• anterior cruciate ligament
• autograft
• cadaveric study
• semitendinosus