Physeal Sparing Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction in Skeletally Immature Patients Bridging the Tibial Physis With Two Divergent Tunnels

Abstract

A technique for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction in patients with open physis is presented. The patient is positioned supine with the knee flexed 90°. After intraarticular injuries are addressed, an autologous hamstring graft is harvested and prepared using a suspension device attached in its expansion device. All-epiphyseal femoral and tibial tunnels of the same diameter of the graft are created; both of them are drilled in an outside-in direction, sparing the physis under radioscopic control. A second divergent tibial tunnel of the same diameter of the graft, distal to the physis, is created in an outside-in, mediolateral, and craniocaudal direction, leaving a 1-cm bone bridge between the 2 tibial tunnels. The graft is passed through the all-epiphyseal tunnels, from femoral to tibial, and pulled until the suspension device leans on the lateral femoral cortex. The graft is passed through the second divergent tibial tunnel and fixed in it with an interference screw to move the pressure away from the physis.