Position of anterior cruciate ligament after single-bundle arthroscopic reconstruction

The goal of this study was to assess the position of the reconstructed anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in arthroscopic single-bundle ligamentoplasties through an anteromedial portal technique based on a clinical case series of 74 patients followed prospectively.

This cohort study involved 100 patients who underwent arthroscopic ACL reconstruction between January 2012 and January 2014. Patients who underwent isolated ACL reconstruction were selected from 194 cases with associated lesions. Graft placement at the femoral side was within the femoral footprint of ACL. All patients received computed tomography scans and magnetic resonance imaging of both knees to compare ACL graft position to tht of the native ACL in the unaffected knee and to show whether drilling the femoral tunnel through the anteromedial portal closely approximates the native ACL alignment.

Seventy-four patients were available for follow-up. Mean value for the sagittal angle was 52.6° ± 2.9° for the graft-Blumensaat angle was 4.73° ± 0.75°., closely matching measurements in the contralateral normal knee.

Using the anteromedial portal for single-bundle arthroscopic ACL reconstruction enables graft positioning within the normal footprint and as close as possible to anatomic ACL orientation.