Outcomes of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction

Abstract

Introduction Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture is a relatively common injury to the knee joint in individuals of active working age. As such, ACL injuries result in knee instability with concomitant injuries to the articular components aggravating functional performance. The ACL injury affects a person’s ability to work and go in for sports. Material and methods Outcomes of 192 patients with ACL injury treated with hamstring tendon grafts using the semitendinosus and/or gracilis tendons were reviewed. Results The Lysholm knee score was used to assess the results of ACL reconstruction. Excellent and good results were observed in most of the cases (n = 173; 90.1 %) and 16 (8.3 %) patients had fair results. Three (1.6 %) patients had poor outcomes and two of those underwent revision arthroscopy due to infection. Conclusion ACL reconstruction with semitendinosus and gracilis tendon is an effective and less traumatic technique for restoring knee stability after ACL rupture. Such factors as femoral and tibial tunnels provided at isometric points of the native hamstring ligament insertion site, adequate autograft diameter depending on patient characteristics and proper implementation of ACL rehabilitation program play a role in successful treatment.