Abstract: BACKGROUND: Anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction usually uses bone-patellar tendon-bone, quadriceps tendon or hamstring tendon as grafts. The maturity of the intra-articular graft is the key to patient’s movement recovery after the anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.  
OBJECTIVE: To analyze the potential differences associated with graft maturity between bone-patellar tendon-bone and quadriceps tendon autografts after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.
METHODS:  Sixty patients undergoing anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction in Foshan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine from June 2018 to January 2020 were selected, including 50 males and 10 females, at the age of 17-42 years old. Twenty-seven patients were in the autologous bone-patellar tendon-bone group, and 33 patients were in the quadriceps tendon group. At 3, 6 and 12 months after ligament reconstruction, the signal/noise quotient of the three regions of the femoral side, the middle and the tibial side of the graft were compared between the two groups. The international knee documentation committee knee evaluation form, Lysholm score, and bilateral KT-1000 difference at 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery were compared between the two groups. The differences of knee gait were compared between the two groups at 12 months after ligament reconstruction. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Foshan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine (approval No. 2018003).  
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) At 3, 6, and 12 months after ligament reconstruction, there was no significant difference in the signal/noise quotient values at 3, 6 and 12 months after the operation of the femoral side and the middle segment (P > 0.05). The signal/noise quotient was higher in the quadriceps tendon group than that in the bone-patellar tendon-bone group (P > 0.05). (2) At 3, 6 and 12 months after ligament reconstruction, there were no statistically significant differences in knee IKDC, Lysholm score, and KT-1000 between the two groups (P > 0.05). (3) There were no statistically significant differences in knee gait analysis between the two groups at 12 months after ligament reconstruction (P > 0.05). (4) Results suggest that the maturity of the graft after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction using bone-patellar tendon-bone graft is superior to that of quadriceps tendon, but the difference in maturity does not affect the functional recovery of patients after ligament reconstruction.

Key words: bone-patellar tendon-bone, quadriceps tendon, anterior cruciate ligament, knee, signal/noise quotient, maturity, autologous tendon, MRI