Clinical outcome of peroneus longus tendon autograft in primary anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction

Objectives Peroneus longus tendon (PLT) is employed as a graft for the reconstruction of graft in orthopedic surgical procedures in consideration of its favourable biochemical properties. PLT autograft has demonstrated encouraging outcomes, but there is still a lack of information on its application. We implied measuring the stability of the knee and functional outcomes using PLT autograft. The aim of the study is to evaluate the clinical outcomes of PLT autograft in primary anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. Material and Methods A retrospective, multicenter study involved 104 patients undergoing primary reconstruction of ACL with PLT autograft from March 2020 to 2022. A single surgeon performed on each patient. Graft characteristics and harvesting period were recorded. At the preoperative, six-week, six-month, and 12-month postoperative timepoints, the Lysholm score and the International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) score were used to assess the stability and functional status of the knee. The functionality of the foot/ankle was recorded using the American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Score (AOFAS) prior to injury and postsurgery. All the statistical analyses were performed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. Results PLT autograft was done in all the patients with a specific graft harvesting time of 8.16 (6–10 min), graft length 24.77 cm, and graft diameter 8.48 mm. The mean IKDC and Lysholm scores preoperatively were 51.80 ± 8.16 and 50.78 ± 4.87, and significantly (P < 0.0001) increased 95.09 ± 5.44 and 96.35 ± 3.94 at 12-month follow-up, suggesting PLT as an effective reconstructive procedure. The AOFAS score showed no difference preinjury and postsurgery. However, 3 (2.88%) patients experienced toe pain as a postprocedure complication. Conclusion PLT autograft had shown significantly higher functional and clinical outcomes inferring to be a viable option for patients and can set a benchmark for ACL reconstruction.