Biomechanical Comparison of the Banana Peel to a Tibial Tubercle Osteotomy for Knee Exposure

Abstract

The ‘banana peel’ is a novel extensile exposure for complex primary and revision knee replacement. The tensile strength of the patellar tendon after the peel procedure is unknown. We chose to compare the banana peel exposure to a tibial tubercle osteotomy, because the osteotomy has been shown to withstand early rehabilitation protocols. Our null hypothesis was that the strength post banana peel was no different than that of the tibial tubercle osteotomy when tested for load to failure in a cadaveric knee.