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ANTERIOR CRUCIATE LIGAMENT (ACL) RECONSTRUCTION

  • The damaged intra-articular ACL is removed and reconstructed with a graft.
  • This is combined with a knee arthroscopy to guide the procedure and allow any other associated injuries in the knee to be treated at the same time, such as meniscal or cartilage damage
  • The graft is made by taking a section of tissue from around the knee, most commonly a hamstring tendon from the back inside of the knee or a strip of patella tendon from the front
  • Bone sockets hold the intra-articular graft in place which is then tensioned with permanent buttons that sit snug onto the outside of the bone.
  • This may need to be combined with a second reconstruction on the outside of the knee for added control of knee stability

Other knee ligament repairs and reconstructions

  • Whilst the ACL is the most commonly injured knee ligament that requires surgery, there are 3 other main regions of the knee that can sustain ligament injuries:
    • Medial collateral ligament (MCL)
    • Lateral collateral ligament (LCL) and the posterolateral corner (PLC)
    • Posterior cruciate ligament (PCL)
  • These ligaments can be injured individually or in combined multi-ligament injuries where each individual case has a tailor-made approach to repairing and reconstructing the knee