Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction: Which Graft to Use?

Abstract

The anterior cruciate ligament is the most commonly injured ligament within the knee and its injury mostly occurs among young and active individuals. In the last few decades, the proper kind of graft choice that should be used for cruciate ligament reconstruction has been controversial. In addition to bone-patellar and tendon-bone autografts, many other choices have become popular, such as using hamstring tendons and allografts. The aim of this article is to evaluate the kinds of choices that are available for grafting and to assess their advantages, disadvantages, clinical outcome, donor site morbidity, and biomechanical criteria and healing factors. In conclusion, there are certain situations where one graft may be favored over another. However, a universally accepted ideal graft choice currently does not exist. Therefore, a good surgeon should be familiar with the different types of grafting choices.