Tension patterns of the anteromedial and posterolateral grafts in a double‐bundle anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction

The two functional bundles of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), namely, the anteromedial (AM) and posterolateral (PL) bundles, must work in concert to control displacement of the tibia relative to the femur for complex motions. Thus, the replacement graft(s) for a torn ACL should possess similar tension patterns. The objective of the study was to examine whether a double‐bundle ACL reconstruction with the semitendinosus‐gracilis autografts could replicate the tension patterns of those for the intact ACL under controlled in vitro loading conditions. By means of a robotic/universal force moment sensor (UFS) testing system, the in situ force vectors (both magnitude and direction) for the AM and PL bundles of the ACL, as well as their respective replacement grafts, were determined and compared on nine human cadaveric knees. It was found that double‐bundle ACL reconstruction could closely replicate the in situ force vectors. Under a 134‐N anterior tibial load, the resultant force vectors for the intact ACL and the reconstructed ACL had a difference of 5 to 11 N (p > 0.05) in magnitude and 1 to 13° (p > 0.05) in direction. Whereas, under combined rotatory loads of 10‐N‐m valgus and 5‐N‐m internal tibial torques, the corresponding differences were 10 to 16 N and 4° to 11°, respectively. Again, there were no statistically significant differences except at 30° of flexion where the force vector for the AM graft had a 15° (p < 0.05) lower elevation angle than did the AM bundle. © 2008 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 27: 879–884, 2009