[Acute anterior cruciate ligament rupture: repair or reconstruction?]

In the case of persistent complaints of instability due to a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), surgical treatment can be opted for, in which reconstruction with a body's own tendon graft (autograft) is the gold standard. New information has created renewed interest in the primary repair of an ACL rupture. Potential advantages of repair of the ACL rupture compared with a reconstruction are the restoration of the complex natural anatomy including the proprioception of the native ACL, and no donor site morbidity. Biomechanical studies show that when suturing an ACL rupture, intra-articular augmentation is important to protect the repaired ACL during healing. Given the results of randomized studies comparing the ACL suture technique including augmentation with the ACL reconstruction, it can be concluded that the nowadays used suture technique in combination with an augmentation could be an alternative treatment to the current gold standard, the ACL reconstruction.