2023, Vol. 27 ›› Issue (5): 779-786

Research progress in promoting tendon to bone healing during anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction

Xiong Bohan1, Yu Yang1, Lu Xiaojun1, Wang Xu2, Yang Tengyun1, Zhang Yaozhang1, Liao Xinyu1, Zhou Xiaoxiang1, He Lu1, Li Yanlin1   

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Arthroscopic anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction is an important treatment for anterior cruciate ligament injury and fracture. Postoperative tendon to bone healing is closely related to the early postoperative rehabilitation and functional recovery of patients. In particular, the time and firmness of tendon to bone healing have become important indicators to evaluate the efficacy of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.
OBJECTIVE: To summarize the research progress in promoting tendon to bone healing after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction in recent years, hoping to inspire surgeons and related researchers and better serve basic research and clinical work.
METHODS: Using “anterior cruciate ligament, tendon to bone Healing, knee joint, anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction” as English and Chinese search terms, related articles regarding tendon to bone healing were searched by computer in CNKI, WanFang Database, PubMed, and FMRS. The time period of literature retrieval was from January 2011 to December 2021, and systematic generalization, summary and analysis were conducted. The shortcomings and future prospects of the research are also discussed.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: With the development of medical technology and research level, tendon to bone healing after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction can be promoted from various aspects such as surgical method improvement, tissue engineering technology and postoperative rehabilitation optimization. However, there are also some limitations, such as a lot of research achievements to promote tendon to bone healing only stay on the animal experiment, especially the experiments of small animals (rat and rabbit). These animals are small in size and extremely different from humans in terms of biological mechanics and body mass; therefore, further research is required to explore whether these study results have the same effect in humans and whether there are long-term adverse reactions or not. There are still few studies on whether the combination of various methods to promote tendon to bone healing can produce a synergistic effect or an inhibitory effect, which may provide new ideas for further research on tendon to bone healing.
Key words: anterior cruciate ligament, tendon to bone healing, knee joint, tissue engineering, postoperative rehabilitation, review