Functional outcome of hamstring versus peroneus longus tendon graft in arthroscopic anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction –A prospective comparative study

The objective of this study was to determine whether there is any significant difference between the functional outcome of the knee using a hamstring (HS) graft and peroneus longus (PL) tendon graft after arthroscopic anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. A study was done on 140 patients from January 2021 to January 2022 as per inclusion criteria. All patients underwent arthroscopic ACL reconstruction using PL tendon and HS tendon grafts. Patients were followed up with the International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) and Modified Cincinnati Score (MCS) for a period of 12 months. Average time of surgery and complications if any were noted. At one year follow-up, the IKDC score was 91.98 ± 3.92 and 91.74 ± 6.93, respectively, for PL and HS groups with P = 0.803. Similarly, the MCS had P = 0.161 and mean values for PL and HS groups being 92.86 ± 3.88 and 91.80 ± 4.67, respectively. The present study shows that the PL tendon autograft has slightly better outcomes on knee functional scores (IKDC and MCSs) to that derived from HS graft in arthroscopic reconstruction of ACL tear over one year of follow-up. PL can be considered as an alternative graft option, but further studies are needed in other sex and age groups and using different functional knee scores to establish the superiority of PL graft over HS graft.