Patella Tendon Repair

Austin Fares, MD

Content Contributor

Evolution of Patella Tendon Repair

Suture anchor technology is one of the more modern ways surgeons fix a torn patellar tendon back to the patella itself. The overall function of these devices is to fix tendons and ligaments to bone. While originally developed more than 3 decades ago, suture anchors have undergone multiple modifications to increase its strength and applicability. From shoulders, to hips, to knees the use of suture anchors is ubiquitous in orthopaedics.

Further innovations in suture anchor design have seen the advent of knotless anchors, especially useful in minimally invasive surgery. The newest products are the all-suture anchors which show impressive strength whilst reducing the iatrogenic (surgeon produced) damage caused by insertion. Because of the low-profile nature of anchors, this technique more accurately re-creates the footprint at the patella and avoids articular cartilage penetration and injury to the surrounding soft tissue seen with bone tunnels.

Technology Spotlight

Arthrex™ Patella Tendon Repair with BioComposite™ SwiveLock® anchors, and FiberTape®

The Arthrex SwiveLock product line consists of fully-threaded twist-In knotless anchors designed for use with FiberWire, FiberTape, and soft tissue grafts in repair and reconstruction techniques. Benefits of these anchors are that they are knotless meaning they do not rely on a surgeon’s ability to tie well tensioned knots for success. This takes much of the human error out of repairing the patellar tendon and allows for more consistent and reliable results. With these anchors tension is visualized, adjusted and locked into position with the SwiveLock anchor body which can be made out of a number of materials to include bioabsorbable BioComposite, nonabsorbable PEEK, or titanium. BioComposite has the advantage of enhanced boney in-growth after being resorbed.