Drs. Eugene Brabston, Aaron Casp, Thomas Evely, and Amit Momaya, faculty members in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, are authors of a recently published article titled “Impact of irradiation on load-to-failure in bone-patellar tendon-bone allografts: A systematic review and meta-analysis.”

The study, which was published in Journal of Orthopaedics, aims to “evaluate the impact various levels of irradiation have on bone-patellar tendon-bone (BTB) allograft load-to-failure.”

Researchers focused on 12 studies that contained 429 BTB allografts in total. The strength of BTB allografts significantly decreased when exposed to intermediate radiation doses (20–49 kGy), but low (≤19 kGy) and high (>50 kGy) doses did not have a significant impact on load-to-failure.

It was concluded that “intermediate doses of radiation may negatively impact the biomechanical integrity of BTB allograft in vitro,” and further research is needed to investigate how different radiation levels may affect clinical results.

Multiple current and former department members were also involved in this study, including Drs. Samuel Schick, Joseph Elphingstone, Kelly Chandler, and Matt Hargreaves.