Effect of Patient Height and Sex on the Patellar Tendon and Anterior Cruciate Ligament.

Background: Graft-tunnel mismatch is an avoidable complication in anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. Patient height and sex may be predictors of patellar tendon length (PTL) and intra-articular ACL length (IAL). Understanding these relationships may assist in reducing graft-tunnel mismatch during ACL reconstruction with bone-patellar tendon-bone (BTB) autograft.
Purpose: To determine the association of patient height and sex with PTL and IAL.
Study Design: Cross-sectional study; Level of evidence, 3.
Methods: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies were obtained on the healthy knees of 100 male and 100 female patients. Patients with prior surgery, open physes, significant degenerative changes, ACL rupture, or extensor mechanism injury were excluded. Three independent readers measured PTL, IAL, and Caton-Deschamps Index (CDI) on MRI. Bivariate and linear regression analysis was performed to detect the association of anthropometric data with anatomic parameters measured on MRI studies.
Results: The mean age and body mass index were not significantly different between the male and female patients; however, male patients were significantly taller than female patients (1.75 vs 1.72 m, respectively; P < .001). There was a substantial agreement between the 3 readers for all parameters (κ > 0.75). Overall, female patients had significantly longer PTL (47.38 vs 43.92 mm), higher CDI (1.146 vs 1.071), and shorter IAL (33.05 vs 34.39 mm) ( P < .001 for all). Results of the linear regression analysis demonstrated that both height and female sex were predictive of longer PTL. Further, height was independently predictive of IAL but sex was not.
Conclusion: PTL was correlated more with patient sex than height. IAL was also correlated with patient sex. Longer BTB grafts are expected to be harvested in female patients compared with male patients of the same height despite shorter IAL. These associations should be considered during BTB ACL reconstruction to minimize graft-tunnel mismatch.
Competing Interests: One or more of the authors has declared the following potential conflict of interest or source of funding: A.L.C. has received education payments from Arthrex and Micromed and grants from Arthrex. D.Y. has received hospitality payments from Medical Device Business Services. C.A.U. has received consulting fees and nonconsulting fees from Arthrex; hospitality payments from Arthrex; and education payments from Smith & Nephew. O.L. has received consulting fees from Arthrex and Linvatec; nonconsulting fees from Arthrex; education payments from Arthrex; and royalties from Linvatec. AOSSM checks author disclosures against the Open Payments Database (OPD). AOSSM has not conducted an independent investigation on the OPD and disclaims any liability or responsibility relating thereto.
(© The Author(s) 2021.)