Abstract
The effects of healing time and anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction on healing of the medial collateral ligament and stability of the knee joint were evaluated in a rabbit model of an O'Donoghue triad injury (rupture of the medial collateral ligament with removal of the anterior cruciate ligament and part of the medial meniscus). At time 0 and at 6 and 12 weeks postoperatively, the anterior‐posterior translation and varus‐valgus rotation of the knee, the structural properties of the femur‐medial collateral ligament‐tibia complex, and the mechanical properties of the substance of the medial collateral ligament were evaluated. Although anterior‐posterior translation increased significantly with time, we could not demonstrate a significant temporal effect on varus‐valgus rotation. The ultimate load, elongation at failure, and energy absorbed to failure improved with time. In addition, with time, failure of the complex occurred more often in the ligament substance than at the osseous insertion. Because healing time did not affect the cross‐sectional area or modulus of the medial collateral ligament, the improved structural properties of the complex resulted not from improvements in the mechanical properties of the tissue but rather from healing of the tibial insertion site. By 12 weeks, the reconstructed knees had only minor signs of osteoarthrosis on the tibiofemoral surfaces; this is in contrast to the findings in anterior cruciate ligament‐deficient knees in our earlier study. Initially, reconstruction also improved stability of the knee. Additionally, at 12 weeks, the stiffness of the complexes from the reconstructed group was 1.3 times that of the anterior cruciate ligament‐deficient group (p < 0.05), and the ultimate load had increased by a factor of 1.6 (p < 0.05). Our findings demonstrate that reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament in the rabbit helps to stabilize the joint, improves healing of the medial collateral ligament, and may decrease the incidence of early‐onset osteoarthrosis after an O'Donoghue triad injury.