Mechanical Properties of Soft Tissue Femoral Fixation Devices for Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction

Purpose To evaluate femoral soft tissue fixation for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. Hypothesis Femoral fixation devices have different ultimate strengths and slippage under cyclic loading. Study Design Controlled laboratory study. Methods Thirty-three porcine femora were used to study interference screw (9), Endobutton (8), Rigidfix cross-pin (8), and Bio-Transfix cross-pin (8) fixation methods. Fixation slippage was evaluated under cyclical load from 50 N to 250 N using a materials testing machine. Ultimate load was determined with a single load to failure. Results Total graft slippage was greater (P< .001) for the Rigidfix (6.02 ± 2.12 mm) and the interference screw (5.44 ± 3.25 mm) compared to the Endobutton (1.75 ± 0.97 mm) and the Bio-Transfix (1.14 ± 0.53 mm). All techniques showed the greatest slippage during the first 100 cycles (Rigidfix 84%, Endobutton 70%, interference screw 56%, and Bio-Transfix 55%). The failure load for the interference screw technique (539 ± 114 N) was lower (P= .0008) than for the other 3 techniques (737 ± 140 N for Rigidfix, 746 ± 119 N for Bio-Transfix, and 864 ± 164 N for Endobutton). Conclusions The interference screw and the Rigidfix fixation demonstrated inferior fixation biomechanics compared to the Bio-Transfix and the Endobutton techniques.