Background: The purpose of the present study was to compare the clinical results of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction with use of different grafts in patients with or without excessive joint laxity.

Methods: We retrospectively studied eighty-three patients (forty-eight men and thirty-five women) who had undergone anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction between June 2002 and August 2004. Of the thirty-one patients who had generalized joint laxity, twenty were managed with an autologous bone-patellar tendon-bone graft and eleven were managed with a four-bundle hamstring (semitendinosus-gracilis tendon) graft. Of the fifty-two patients who had normal joint laxity, thirty-three were managed with a bone-patellar tendon-bone graft and nineteen were managed with a hamstring graft. Clinical results were evaluated by means of an examination at a minimum of twenty-four months after surgery.

Results: Among the patients who had normal joint laxity, the mean side-to-side difference in anterior tibial translation on testing with the KT-2000 arthrometer at a minimum of twenty-four months postoperatively was 2.7 ± 1.9 mm in the bone-patellar tendon-bone graft group and 3.5 ± 1.7 mm in the hamstring graft group. This difference was not significant. The mean Lysholm score was 91 ± 7 points in the bone-patellar tendon-bone graft group and 85 ± 10 points in the hamstring graft group (p = 0.492). The side-to-side difference in anterior translation had an inverse correlation with the Lysholm score (ß = —0.604, p < 0.001). Among the patients who had excessive joint laxity, the mean side-to-side difference in anterior tibial translation was 3.4 ± 1.5 mm in the bone-patellar tendon-bone graft group and 4.5 ± 2.0 mm in the hamstring graft group (p = 0.036). The mean Lysholm score was 89 ± 7 points in the bone-patellar tendon-bone group and 79 ± 12 points in the hamstring group (p = 0.015). The side-to-side difference in anterior translation had an inverse correlation with the Lysholm score (ß = —0.708, p < 0.001).

Conclusions: In patients who have excessive joint laxity, the two-year outcomes of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction with bone-patellar tendon-bone grafts are better than those with four-bundle hamstring grafts in terms of both side-to-side anterior laxity and clinical results.

Level of Evidence: Therapeutic Level III. See Instructions to Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.