This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Study finds ACL tunnel placement is consistent, but tunnel location differs
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Researchers concluded that surgeons who perform ACL reconstruction place the femoral and tibial tunnels within guidelines found in the literature in more than 85% of cases, but tibial and femoral tunnel height and depth vary somewhat.
“The data demonstrate that surgeons performing ACL reconstructions are relatively consistent between each other,” Brian R. Wolf, MD, MS, of Iowa City, Iowa, and colleagues wrote in their study abstract. “There is, however, variability of average tunnel placement up to 22% of mean condylar depth, likely reflecting the difference in individual surgeons’ preferred tunnel locations.”
Based on the results there was a 19% range in femoral tunnel height, a 16% range in tibial tunnel location when measured anterior to posterior and a 4% range in tibial tunnel location from medial to lateral.
Wolf and colleagues analyzed results from the Multicenter Orthopaedic Outcomes Network study for eight surgeons who performed ACL reconstruction in 78 patients. They examined postoperative imaging and CT scans, as well as ACL tunnel location and angulation to determine the tunnel placement, height and depth.
Disclosure: This study was supported in part by an NFL Medical Charities grant and a National Institutes of Health Mentored Clinical Research Scholar Program grant.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts