GRAFT FAILURE IN INTRAARTICULAR ANTERIOR CRUCIATE LIGAMENT RECONSTRUCTIONS - A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

There exists a substantial group of patients with unsatisfactory resul ts following anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstructions. This ma y be attributable to graft failure. Revision surgery, for the correcti on of abnormal anterior translation or laxity, requires a careful anal ysis of the causes of failure to ensure the success of the salvage pro cedure. This review attempts to present an overview of some of the imp ortant studies in the literature pertaining to the intraoperative and postoperative factors that probably cause graft failure. It was done b y initial identification of the articles from a Medline database follo wed by the use of cross references. It shows that failures can be mini mised by adhering to the correct operative and post-operative techniqu es wherein proper attention to the factors, such as: adequate notchpla sty, proper tunnel placements, proper tensioning, adequate fixation, o ptimal selection and harvest of the graft, and rehabilitation, are ens ured.