Postoperative nursing of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: Comparison between patellar tendon and doubled semitendinosus and gracilis tendon graft [Il nursing post-operatorio nella ricostruzione del legamento crociato anteriore: Confronto tra tendine rotuleo e semitendinoso e gracile duplicati]

Purpose of the study: To analyze the management of postoperative nursing in a patient population that underwent an arthroscopic anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction with patellar tendon (PT) or doubled semitendinosus and gracilis (DSTG) tendon graft. Type of the study: Economic and decision analysis. Level of evidence: Level II. Hypothesis of the study: There are not significant differences in postoperative nursing between ACL reconstruction with PT and DSTG. Materials and methods: We analyzed retrospectively the postoperative nursing management of a patient population previously enrolled for a prospective randomized clinical study aimed to evaluate the clinical outcome of ACL reconstruction according to the type of the graft. Study population consisted of 2 groups of 70 cases each. ACL reconstruction was carried out using autologous PT in Group 1, and autologous DSTG in Group 2. Variables examined for the evaluation of postoperative nursing were: general health status, fever, drains, bladder catheter, haematomas, wound medications, drugs, continous passive motion, deambulation, and duration of postoperative hospitalization. Results: Analysis of clinical results at two-years follow-up did not show significant differences between the two groups. Likewise, evaluation of postoperative nursing did not show significant differences between the two groups, although clinical course of Group 1 (TR) was better. Conclusion: We did not observe significant differences between the two ACL reconstruction techniques for both clinical outcome and postoperative nursing. However, ACL reconstruction with DSTG required a slightly greater employment of human and economic resources for postoperative nursing management.