Fatigue Behavior of Nitinol Anterior Cruciate Ligament Graft and Inappropriate Femoral Tunnel Placement: Single-Stage Revision Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction Surgery

Abstract

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is the most common ligament injury in the knee, and progressive instability and disability may develop in a significant number of patients. The incidence of ACL reconstruction is rapidly increasing, as is the number of failures. Although ACL reconstruction is a common procedure, less than satisfactory outcomes have been reported to occur in up to 25% of patients. The reasons for clinical failure after ACL reconstruction are numerous but can be broadly separated into 3 categories: technical, biological, and mechanical failures. It is generally thought that poor tunnel positioning (especially the femoral tunnel) is the most common technical error. Revision ACL reconstruction can be performed in 1 or 2 stages. The decision to perform a multistage approach is based on the position and size of the original tunnels. The varied success rates and associated advantages and disadvantages of each method have resulted in controversy as to the best treatment for revision ACL surgery. We describe our preferred operative technique to remove a fractured nitinol synthetic ACL graft and manage single-stage revision ACL reconstruction without bone grafting.