Cruciate ligament stents in reconstruction of the unstable knee. A preliminary report

Cruciate ligament stents have been developed to severe as internal splints which provide excellent temporary stability while allowing full range of motion of the knee during postreconstruction rehabilitation. Forty-three patients with disabling chronic knee instability were treated at one center using similar reconstruction techniques with either the anterior or posterior cruciate stent. When both cruciate ligaments were absent, only the posterior was used. All stents are intended only as temporary internal splints and all patients were advised that the structures were expected to break eventually. Followup of 15 patients with anterior cruciate stents revealed only 50% satisfactory overall results. Overall results were satisfactory in 80% of 20 patients with posterior cruciate stents. Longer implant survival is needed, and this must be accomplished by building more flexibility into the stent core and by improving surgical technique with more precise instrumentation.