Primary Repair of Medial Collateral Ligament Tears With Suture Augmentation

The medial collateral ligament (MCL) is considered to have superior healing and has classically been treated nonoperatively in low-grade MCL injuries. The MCL injury in the setting of concomitant anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is usually treated with a delay of surgery to allow for nonoperative MCL treatment. Recent studies have shown that even with grade II MCL injury there may be residual laxity which may affect place greater strain on an ACL graft in the multi-ligamentous setting and can be corrected for with early primary repair of the MCL which also allows for early definitive treatment of concurrent ipsilateral ligamentous injuries.

All patients are potential candidates given sufficient tissue quality for repair; however, this procedure is preferably performed acutely to avoid scarring, quadriceps strength loss, and allow for early intervention to any concurrent ipsilateral ligamentous knee injury. This technique may be performed on both proximal and distal MCL injuries with the same anchor positioning in either case.

The torn superficial and deep MCL are sutured using a Bunnell-type pattern. The superficial proximal MCL is then fixed to its anatomic footprint using a suture anchor preloaded with an internal suture tape augmentation. A second small incision is made over the tibial insertion of the MCL and a passing suture is channeled from the distal to proximal incision under a skin bridge to retrieve the suture tape. The suture tape is then deployed with appropriate tensioning to the anatomic distal insertion point of the superficial MCL using a second suture anchor.

There is currently no published data regarding patient outcomes after MCL primary repair with suture augmentation. Our preliminary unpublished data with 49 patients treated with this technique and a variety of concomitant ligamentous injury with average follow-up of 1.7 years showed no MCL repair failures. Four patients experienced more than 10° of flexion range of motion loss, and 3 had residual valgus laxity of grade 1 at 0° and 30° of flexion.

Primary MCL repair provides a minimally invasive treatment option for medial laxity, while the suture augmentation allows for early range of motion. Furthermore, this approach avoids delayed definitive surgical intervention of concomitant ligamentous injuries in the setting of combined multi-ligamentous injuries.