Although suture anchor quadriceps tendon repair appears to be a biomechanically superior construct, a clinical study is needed to confirm this technique as a viable alternative to gold standard transosseous techniques. Suture anchor quadriceps tendon repairs had significantly decreased gapping during cyclic loading, but no statistically significant difference in ultimate load to failure when compared with transosseous tunnel repairs. Failure mode for all transosseous specimens but one was pulling the repair through the transosseous tunnel. Failure mode for all suture anchors except one was through the soft tissue. There was no statistically significant difference in ultimate load to failure between the 2 groups (P =. The measured cyclic displacement to the first 100 N, 50 to 150 N, 50 to 200 N, and 50 to 250 N was significantly less for suture anchors than transosseous tunnels. Outcome measures included load to failure, displacement at 1st 100 N load, and displacement after each 10th cycle of loading. Tensile load was applied at a rate of 0.1 mm/s up to 100 N after which cyclic loading was applied at a rate of 1 Hz between magnitudes of 50 to 150 N, 50 to 200 N, 50 to 250 N, and tensile load at a rate of 0.1 mm/s until failure. After the respective procedures were performed, each patella was mounted into a gripping jig. Suture type and repair configuration were equivalent. Specimens were randomly assigned to either a suture anchor repair of quadriceps tendon group (n = 6) or a transosseous tunnel repair group (n = 6).
Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry measurement was performed to ensure equal bone quality amongst groups. Twelve "patella-only" specimens were used. To evaluate the biomechanical fixation strength of suture anchor and transosseous tunnel repair of the quadriceps tendon in a standardized cadaveric repair model. Sherman, Seth L Copeland, Marilyn E Milles, Jeffrey L Flood, David A Pfeiffer, Ferris M Biomechanical Evaluation of Suture Anchor Versus Transosseous Tunnel Quadriceps Tendon Repair Techniques.