Anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction without the use of a tourniquet

Anterior cruciate ligament tears are a common ligamentous knee injury and are usually managed with arthroscopic reconstruction surgery using a tourniquet. The employment of a tourniquet in the management of an anterior cruciate ligament tear has been a debatable topic for some time. Here, we discuss our technique in the reconstruction of anterior cruciate ligament tears without the use of a tourniquet.

We performed 26 anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction surgeries using hamstring grafts without the use of a tourniquet. The outcomes measured were pain using the visual analogue scale, knee swelling, range of movement and bleeding.

Using this technique, we have noted considerable reduction in knee swelling and pain. In addition, there was considerable improvement in the range of movement postoperatively, and there were no bleeding complications noted.

We consider ACL reconstruction without a tourniquet to be an excellent alternative to conventional reconstruction with the use of tourniquet.