Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction: The Rush Experience

Arthroscopically assisted anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction has been performed at Rush Medical Center since January 1986. Since then, over 3000 arthroscopically assisted ACL reconstructions have been performed at this institution by the 2 senior authors. The surgical procedure has evolved from a 2-incision technique to a single-incision technique. The graft of choice has been autogenous patellar tendon, although the use of allograft tendon for ACL reconstruction has increased in recent years. We report the results of patients who have undergone ACL reconstruction with a patellar tendon graft at Rush Medical Center from 1987 to 2000. Our results indicate that this procedure reliably improves knee stability, patient function, and yields a high patient satisfaction rate. These results are reproducible in both men and women in the general population as well as certain subgroups of patients, including patients over the age of 35, worker’s compensation patients, and revision reconstructions. Primary ACL reconstructions using allograft tendon have yielded results similar to reconstructions using autograft tendon but are typically used in older patients.