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Historical Article
[History of implant-free anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction].
Most recent articles on anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction focus on anatomic tunnel placement, but reviewing the early history of ACL reconstruction it can be seen that at the beginning of the 20th century Ernest Hey-Groves had already pointed out the importance of anatomic placement of the tunnels. Palmer even developed a femoral drill guide for precise anatomic placing of the tunnel before World War II. The possibility of graft fixation without any fixation material is also not new and was described as early as 1967 by Brückner from Rostock. Many techniques in ACL reconstruction with non-anatomic placement and high failure rates could have been avoided if surgeons had been aware of what the early pioneers in this important field of orthopedic surgery had already described.
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Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction using autologous tendons (BTB patellar tendon, hamstrings, quadriceps tendon) in an implant-free fixation technique is becoming more and more popular due to biological and economical reasons. In 1987 an implant-free press-fit fixation technique of a BTB graft from the medial side of the patellar tendon (via mini-arthrotomy) was introduced and first published during the 4th ESKA Conference 1990 in Stockholm. Special emphasis is given to the anatomical orientation of the BTB graft. ⋯ Subjectively no patient complained of instability and 99% of the patients could kneel on hard ground with minimal or no complaints. ACL revision surgery due to graft failure was not necessary in any of the patients. Advantages of the described procedure are a narrow anatomical orientation including the double bundle structure of the ACL, rapid graft incorporation by bone-to-bone healing, lack of bone resorption at the graft-host interface, decreased donor site morbidity, cost-effectiveness and ease of possible revision surgery.
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Reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament using the double bundle technique provides better covering of the anatomic insertion site areas and fiber length change behavior. Biomechanical studies and intraoperative measurements with computer navigation systems document increased stability in particular due to rotational stability. To date the impact of the posterolateral bundle is questioned and clinical studies have reported divergent outcomes. ⋯ The sacrifice of hardware ensures easy revisions. The disadvantages are the peripheral tibial fixation, the preparation of the tendons needs tendon length and the creation of tendon knots providing high stability requires practice. The two femoral bone tunnels have proved to be safe regarding the stability of the lateral femoral condyle.