POSTER ABSTRACTS - ISAKOS

Material and Methods; Seven mature mongrel
dogs (average age 1.9 years; 4 males and 3
females) were included. After cutting the ACL, an
open reconstruction was performed by using a
soft tissue autograft (fascia latae). Femoral and
tibial tunnels were made by using a 6-mm drill
and the graft was fixed onto the both ends of
tunnels with non-absorbable sutures and knee
motion was eliminated with an above-knee cast.
The tunnels were evaluated at the post-operative
1st day, 3rd and 6th weeks with computed
tomography (CT). Reformatted CT images on
appropriate planes were obtained and the crosssectional
area of tibial and femoral tunnels were
measured from reformatted transverse sections.
Results; All tunnels were found enlarged over time
in the comparison of the 1st day with 3rd week,
and 1st day with 6th week (F; 37.237, P0.005). Although
both tunnels seemed to have more prominently
enlarged close to the knee joint, this could not be
statistically proven, probably due to the limited
number of subjects.
Conclusion; The fact that even when the knee
motion is eliminated both tunnels (tibial and
femoral) enlarge very early after ACL surgery
suggests that mechanical factor is probably not
the only factor responsible in tunnel enlargement.
E-poster #330
The Effect of Hand-Dominance of the Surgeon
vs. Side of the Injury in Arthroscopic ACL
Reconstruction: Evaluation of Graft Placement
and Duration of Surgery
Anna-Stina Moisala, Tampere, FINLAND,
Presenter
Timo Jarvela, Tampere, FINLAND
Seppo Honkonen, Tampere, FINLAND
Markku Jarvinen, University of Tampere,
FINLAND
Teppo Jarvinen, Tampere, FINLAND
Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, FINLAND
Introduction: The position of the graft plays an
important role in the clinical outcome of the ACL
reconstruction. The choice of hand (dominant or
non-dominant) used in instrumenting may effect
the success of the graft placement in arthroscopic
ACL reconstruction. Our objective was to
investigate the effect of hand-dominance in
arthroscopic ACL reconstruction by evaluating the
graft placement and duration of surgery.
Materials and methods: Lateral radiographs of 208
knees operated by two senior orthopaedic
surgeons were evaluated using the method of ´the
sum score of the graft placement´. The method
takes into account both the femoral and the tibial
positions of the graft simultaneously. Also the
time spent for the operation was measured. The
right-handed surgeon operated 140 knees (71
right knees and 69 left knees), the both-handed
surgeon (uses both hands equally) operated 34
left knees and 34 right knees, a total of 68 knees.
Results: The average sum score of the graft
placement in all 208 reconstructed knees was 67
(SD 11, range 39 to 103). In the 140 reconstructed
knees operated by the right-handed surgeon, the
mean sum score was 66 (SD 11, range 44 to 95).
The mean sum score in right knee radiographs
was 64 (range 44 to 95) and 68 (range 47 to 95) in
left knee radiographs, respectively. In all 68
operated knees by the both-handed surgeon, the
average sum score of the graft placement was 66
(SD 11, range 39 to 92). The average sum score in
the right knee radiographs was 66 (range 39 to 88)
and 66 (range 41 to 92) in the left knee
radiographs, respectively. There was no significant
correlation between using the dominant hand in
instrumenting and the success of the graft
placement measured by ´the sum score of the
graft placement´. The right-handed surgeon´s
femur positions in the right and left knees had a
significant difference (P = 0.007). The righthanded
surgeon spent on average 76 minutes for
the right knee operations, and 80 minutes for the
left knee operations. The mean duration of the
both-handed surgeon’s right knee operations was
100 minutes, and the left knee operations mean
duration was 102 minutes. There was no
significant difference in operating times between
using the dominant or the non-dominant hand in
instrumenting.
Discussion and conclusion: To our knowledge the
effect of hand-dominance in arthroscopic ACL
reconstruction has not been studied before. We
prefer one hand to the other (the dominant hand).
With this hand we perfom better on activities,
especially in tasks containing elements of
accuracy and speed. Thus using the dominant
hand in instrumenting in endoscopic surgery
might have some benefits compared to using the
non-dominant hand. Results might be seen as a
more accurate placement of the graft to it´s ideal
position and a shorter duration of operation. In
our study there was no statistical difference