A cyclic testing comparison of two flexor tendon repairs: asymmetric and modified Lim-Tsai techniques

Abstract

This study compared the biomechanical performance of a novel 6-strand asymmetric flexor tendon repair with the modified Lim-Tsai technique using cyclic testing. Two groups of ten porcine tendons each were repaired and tested. Gap formation at every 100 cycles was measured. Survival was defined as maximum gap formation below 2 mm. All the repairs survived Stage I. With increased cyclic load in Stage II, the mean gap formation of modified Lim-Tsai repairs exceeded 2 mm at the 600th cycle and reached 4.2 mm (SD 1.93) at the end of Stage II, resulting in 0% survival. The mean gap formation of asymmetric repairs reached 2.0 mm (SD 1.43) at the 800th cycle and was 2.4 mm (SD 1.52) at the end of Stage II, with 60% survival. The asymmetric repair has better biomechanical performance under cyclic testing as compared with the modified Lim-Tsai repair.