ObjectiveTo evaluate the morphology of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) femoral insertion in order to describe its anatomical features and insertion site location, with the aim of verifying if the ACL femoral insertion has individual characteristics and to provide information for appropriate femoral tunnel placement on anatomic ACL reconstruction.MethodsSixteen knees obtained from amputations were studied. The ACL femoral bundles and insertion shape were observed macroscopically, and the ligaments insertion length and thickness were measured with a digital caliper. The distances between the limits of the ligament to the articular cartilage, and the measurement of the area of insertion were checked using ImageJ software.ResultsThe ACL femoral insertion site was eccentric, closer to the deep condyle cartilage. In ten knees (62.5%), the ACL femoral insertion was oval; the mean length of the insertion was 16.4 mm, varying from 11.3 to 19.3 mm, the mean thickness varied from 7.85 to 11.23 mm, and the mean area of the insertion was 99.7 mm2, varying from 80.9 a 117.2 mm2. The mean distances between the limits of the ligament to the superficial, deep, and inferior articular cartilage were 9.77 ± 1.21, 2.60 ± 1.20, and 1.86 ± 1.15 mm, respectively.ConclusionThere was a 30% to 40% difference between the minimum and maximum results of measurements of ACL femoral insertion length, thickness, and area demonstrating an important individual variation. The insertion site was eccentric, closer to the deep cartilage of the lateral femoral condyle.

Objective To evaluate different decontaminants for tendon grafts, proposing an antiseptic protocol for contaminated grafts. Methods A total of 25 patients were tissue donors for the study. Each participant donated a 2.5-cm tendon sample, which was divided into 5 fragments with 5 mm each during anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction surgery. The collected material was divided into 5 groups, totaling 125 samples. In total, four fragments of each patient were placed on the operating room floor for one minute for contamination, simulating the fall of the graft on the floor during surgery. The other fragment was immediately placed in a sterile container (group 1). One of the contaminated fragments was placed in the sterile container without being previously immersed in decontaminating solution (group 2). The remaining fragments were immersed for ten minutes in decontaminating solution: 0.5% chlorhexidine (group 3), 0.9% saline (group 4) and 0.55% ortho-phthalaldehyde (group 5), and, after this time, they were individually placed in a sterile container. The samples from the 5 groups were submitted to microbiological examination. Results Bacteria were detected in 26% of the total samples in the microbiological tests, and in group 1 there was no growth of microorganisms. In group 2, bacterial growth was observed in 16 samples. Considering the evaluation of test groups 3, 4 and 5, the percentage of decontamination was higher than the growth of microorganisms in the respective cultures. Conclusion The protocol suggested by the study showed that intraoperative graft decontamination is possible.

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