Porcine tibia is a poor substitute for human cadaver tibia for evaluating interference screw fixation.

Area of Science:

• Orthopedic biomechanics
• Biomaterials science
• Surgical research

Background:

• Animal tissues are frequently utilized in anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) graft fixation research.
• Biomechanical evaluation of ACL reconstruction relies on appropriate tissue models.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the efficacy of porcine tissues as surrogates for human cadaver tissues in ACL reconstruction biomechanical studies.
• To compare the graft fixation strength using pure porcine, combination, and pure human tissue models.

Main Methods:

• A randomized experimental study design was employed.
• Three groups were tested: pure porcine, combination (human graft/porcine tibia), and pure human.
• Cyclic-loading and load-to-failure tests assessed fixation strength and slippage.

Main Results:

• Porcine tibia models showed significantly less graft slippage (2.0 mm) compared to human models (4.4 mm) under cyclic loading.
• The pure porcine model (668 N) and combination model (962 N) exhibited higher yield loads than the pure human model (448 N).
• Statistical analysis revealed significant differences across all groups for both slippage and failure load.

Conclusions:

• Porcine tibia underestimates graft slippage and overestimates the failure load in ACL reconstruction compared to human cadaver tibia.
• The use of porcine tibia as a surrogate for human tibia in ACL reconstruction biomechanical evaluations is not recommended.
• Findings indicate limitations in using porcine models for accurately assessing ACL graft fixation in research settings.