ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.
Sec. Biomechanics
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2025.1606404
This article is part of the Research TopicEnhancing Sports Injury Management through Medical-Engineering InnovationsView all 10 articles
Changes in Volumetric Bone Mineral Density after ACL Reconstruction with single-bundle and double-bundle: A 1-Year Follow-Up Study Using Peripheral Quantitative Computed Tomography
Provisionally accepted
- 1Ningbo No. 6 Hospital, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China
- 2Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai, China
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The purpose of this study is to quantify changes in volumetric bone mineral density (vBMD) in different regions of the tibial plateau after single-bundle (SB) and double-bundle (DB) anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR).Methods: 26 patients with diagnosed anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture were allocated into SB (10) or DB group ( 16) and completed the last follow-up at 12 months.Peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT) was performed before surgery and at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery. Four regions of interest (ROI) were identified 2 mm below the medial and lateral subchondral plate of the knee joint, namely the anteromedial (AM), posteromedial (PM), anterolateral (AL) and posterolateral (PL) regions. The vBMD of each ROI was measured and compared between the groups at different timepoints.Results: For the vBMD, a significant change in all ROIs can be found over time, with the values at all ROIs decreased until 6 months postoperatively and then steadily increased, but the values did not reach preoperative levels. The AM region had the highest vBMD, followed by the PL region, and the vBMD was lowest in the AL region. For the change percent, the decrease magnitude was comparable between AM and PM region at postoperative 1 month and 12 months, but it was greater at PM region at postoperative 3 months and 6 months. Comparing DB ACLR and SB ACLR, there was no significant 2 difference in the change percent of vBMD in all ROIs, except for in the AL region at 1 month postoperatively.A partially reversible decline in vBMD was found in the proximal tibia at 12 months after ACLR. But the change percent varied among the different regions, which may indicate inadequate restoration of knee kinematics after ACLR. DB and SB ACLR methods may have a similar effect on knee kinematics.
Keywords: ACL reconstruction, Tibia, Single-bundle, Double-bundle, bone mineral density
Received: 05 Apr 2025; Accepted: 09 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yin, Fang, Feng and Wu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Chaohua Fang, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai, 201620, China
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