The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (American). 2009;91:2151-2158.
doi:10.2106/JBJS.H.00940
© 2009 The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Inc.
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow CME: Take the activities for this article:
 Sports Test 19: Fall 2009 (publication date November 16, 2009; expiration d...
CME 3: July, August, September 2009 (publication date October 5, 2009; expi...
Right arrow Letters to the Editor: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when Letters to the Editor are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Rights and Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Ristanis, S.
Right arrow Articles by Georgoulis, A. D.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Ristanis, S.
Right arrow Articles by Georgoulis, A. D.
Related Collections
Right arrow Sports
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Facebook   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Effect of Femoral Tunnel Placement for Reconstruction of the Anterior Cruciate Ligament on Tibial Rotation

Stavros Ristanis, MD1, Nicholas Stergiou, PhD2, Eleftheria Siarava, MD1, Aikaterini Ntoulia, MD3, Grigorios Mitsionis, MD1 and Anastasios D. Georgoulis, MD1

1 Orthopaedic Sports Medicine Center, P.O. Box 1330, Ioannina 45110, Greece. E-mail address for A.D. Georgoulis: oaki{at}cc.uoi.gr
2 HPER Biomechanics Laboratory, University of Nebraska at Omaha, Omaha, NE 68182-0216. E-mail address: nstergiou{at}unomaha.edu
3 Department of Radiology, University Hospital of Ioannina, Ioannina 45500, Greece. E-mail address: oaki{at}cc.uoi.gr

Investigation performed at the Orthopaedic Sports Medicine Center, Ioannina, Greece

Disclosure: In support of their research for or preparation of this work, one or more of the authors received, in any one year, outside funding or grants of less than $10,000 from the Hellenic Association of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology (HAOST-EEXOT). Neither they nor a member of their immediate families received payments or other benefits or a commitment or agreement to provide such benefits from a commercial entity. No commercial entity paid or directed, or agreed to pay or direct, any benefits to any research fund, foundation, division, center, clinical practice, or other charitable or nonprofit organization with which the authors, or a member of their immediate families, are affiliated or associated.

Background: Rotational knee movement after reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament has been difficult to quantify. The purpose of this study was to identify in vivo whether a more horizontal placement of the femoral tunnel (in the ten o'clock position rather than in the eleven o'clock position) can restore rotational kinematics, during highly demanding dynamic activities, in a knee in which a bone-patellar tendon-bone graft had been used to reconstruct the anterior cruciate ligament.

Methods: We evaluated ten patients in whom a bone-patellar tendon-bone graft had been used to reconstruct the anterior cruciate ligament with the femoral tunnel in the eleven o'clock position, ten patients who had had the same procedure with the femoral tunnel in the ten o'clock position, and ten healthy controls. Kinematic data were collected while the subjects (1) descended from a stairway, made foot contact, and then pivoted 90° on the landing lower limb and (2) jumped from a platform, landed with both feet on the ground, and pivoted 90° on the right or left lower limb. The dependent variable that we examined was tibial rotation during pivoting.

Results: The results demonstrated that reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament with the femoral tunnel in either the ten or the eleven o'clock position successfully restored anterior tibial translation. However, both techniques resulted in tibial rotation values, during the dynamic activities evaluated, that were significantly larger than those in the intact contralateral lower limbs and those in the healthy controls. Tibial rotation did not differ significantly between the two reconstruction groups or between the healthy controls and the intact contralateral lower limbs. However, we noticed that positioning the tunnel at ten o'clock resulted in slightly decreased rotation values that may have clinical relevance but not statistical significance.

Conclusions: Regardless of which of the two tested positions was utilized to fix the graft to the femur, reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament did not restore normal tibial rotation during dynamic activities.

Level of Evidence: Therapeutic Level II. See Instructions to Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Facebook Facebook   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?