Atlas of complications in anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction

Abstract

The incidence of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is rising, mainly due to the growing number of recreational and professional athletes. ACL insufficiency leads to knee instability and the optimal treatment is ACL reconstruction. More than 100000 ACL reconstructions are performed annually in the United States. Despite improvements in surgical technique and instrumentation of ACL reconstruction, complications do occur. We strongly believe that the incidence of complications is underreported in the literature because of the difficulties to recognize and record them. Awareness of the prevention and treatment of complications is mandatory in order to obtain the best clinical outcome after ACL reconstruction. In this article, we present the experience of a single Orthopaedic Department the last 27 years.