The effects of stromal vascular fraction administration in stimulating graft healing process after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction surgery in rattus norvegicus

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Ligament injuries commonly occur in the knee region, and the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) being the most usually injured. At present, autograft or allograft is the most common material used for ACL reconstruction surgery. The result of the ACL reconstruction depends on the healing process of the graft or ligamentization between graft and bone tunnel. AIM: This study aims to evaluate the effect of stromal vascular fraction (SVF) intratunnel injection to stimulate graft healing following ACL reconstruction surgery, as measured by histology examination. METHODS: This study was an experimental laboratory study with a post-test-only control group design using male Rattus norvegicus. A random sampling procedure was used to choose the sample, which was then divided into two groups. The two groups consist of the control group that only had ACL reconstruction surgery and the treatment group that had reconstruction surgery with SVF administration. RESULTS: This study used advanced ligament maturity index score and showed a significant improvement of graft healing in the treatment group compared to the control group. The measurement is based on the cellular, collagen, and vascular aspect testing with p < 0.05 for each subscore. CONCLUSION: SVF intratunnel injection stimulates graft healing after ACL reconstruction surgery and causes a significant increase in cellular, collagen, and vascular aspects in the graft.