Assessment of patellar height after autogenous patellar tendon anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction

In this study, we sought to determine if a significant change in patellar height occurs after autogenous patellar tendon anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction at our clinic. In a series of 71 patients (52 males and 18 females; average age: 22 years; range: 12 to 41) randomly selected, all had undergone an identical autogenous patellar tendon ACL reconstruction, by the same surgeon, and followed the same postoperative accelerated rehabilitation program. All patients had standardized preoperative and postoperative lateral knee radiographs. The patellar tendon length as well as the patellar height and ratio of Blackburne and Peel were measured by the same person for all subjects. The length of the patellar tendon shortened by an average of 0.4 mm (range: 6% lengthening to 12% shortening) which is less than 1% and not statistically significant (P = .068). The Blackburne and Peel ratio for patellar height decreased by 1%, which was also not statistically significant (P = .060). The evidence obtained from this study indicated no significant change in patellar height after autogenous patellar tendon ACL reconstruction combined with postoperative accelerated rehabilitation and no correlations with postoperative complications, secondary surgeries, timing of surgery, age, or anterior knee symptoms.