The rate of graft failure following anatomic ACL reconstruction has been reported to be as high as 13%, nearly double the reported failure rate of transtibial reconstructions. The majority of anatomic graft failures occur six to nine months after surgery, when patients commonly return to full sports activity. Findings from a cadaver study by Araujo et al. in the November 4, 2015 edition of The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery may help explain these phenomena.
The authors used a robotic system to measure in situ forces on 12 native cadaver ACLs and on three different reconstructions, one representing the anatomic approach and two reconstructions approximating traditional transtibial approaches.
