To introduce a new arthroscopically tied knot with self-locking mechanism (SMC knot) and compare the knot security between the SMC knot and other arthroscopically tied knots used commonly in arthroscopic repair.

We performed tensile testing on SMC knot and four arthroscopically tied knots with No.2 Ethibond suture material. The four types of knot configurations were Tennessee knot, Duncan knot, Overhand throw knot and Revo knot. After knot creation, we measured displacement in cyclic loading, load at clinical failure, ultimate failure strength and mode of failure, using MTS Bionix test system and analyzed the data by One-way ANOVA.

In cyclic loading, displacement of overhand throw knot was significantly higher than those of others. In clinical failure, load of SMC knot was significantly higher than those of Overhand knot and Duncan knot , but lower than that of Revo knot. In ultimate failure strength, load of SMC knot was higher than those of Overhand and Tennessee knot, but showed no difference with those of Duncan and Revo knots. As for failures, knot slippage occurred in the Overhand throw knot, Duncan knot and Tennessee knot, whereas knot breakage occurred in SMC knot and Revo knot.

The results show that SMC knot is a safe arthroscopic knot that provides great knot security without slippage.