Are there any complications after lateral extra-articular tenodesis in anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction? – a systematic review

INTRODUCTION: Lateral extra-articular tenodesis (LET) is a surgical technique that can be used in conjunction with anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR), improving rotational stability and reducing the risk of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) re-rupture. However, as with any surgical procedure, LET carries a risk of complications. Despite numerous articles published in recent decades discussing LET in the context of ACLR, relatively few complications associated with the LET procedure have been documented in the literature. This study aimed to systematically review adverse events associted with the LET procedure when combined with ACLR. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The following key terms were used: (extra-articular OR extraarticular) AND (tenodesis OR plasty OR augmentation OR procedure or reconstruction OR reconstructive OR surgical OR surgery OR technique) AND (ACL OR anterior cruciate ligament), with no limits regarding the year of publication in PubMed, ScienceDirect, Cochrane Central, Web of Science, and Embase databases. English-language clinical human studies with evidence levels I-IV were included. RESULTS: This analysis evaluated seven articles published between 1999 and 2023. Level IV evidence was identified in the majority of studies (n = 5), level III evidence was found in one (n = 1), and level I evidence was noted in another (n = 1). Nine distinct types of complications were identified with rates rangingfrom 0.6% to 17% across the analysed studies. The modified Lemaire technique had the highest complication rate, reaching 7.5%. Overall, the complication rate across all reviewed LET techniques in this study was 4.2%. CONCLUSION: This is the first study to systematically document the occurrence of complications in LET. The most common problems included LET hardware irritation - predominantly after staple fixation, and subsequent removal, haematoma over the LET site, and pain over the LET site. The analysed studies show that combining LET with ACLR appears to be a safe procedure associated with infrequent and mild side effects.