Advancements in Anterior Cruciate Ligament Repair—Current State of the Art

Abstract

While anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACL-R) has been considered the gold standard for ACL tears, renewed interest in ACL repair has emerged. This review aims to examine the current knowledge regarding ACL repair. A comprehensive literature search was conducted on the PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Embase databases, focusing on the most recent studies up to January 2024. Arthroscopic ACL repair has several advantages, such as resulting in a natural ligament with proprioceptive properties, preservation, and donor graft comorbidity absence. Several ACL repair surgical procedures have been developed thanks to the advancement in new fixation devices. The current literature showed that when performed on a suitable patient with the appropriate lesion type, corresponding to the proximal third with good tissue quality, ACL repair leads to satisfactory outcomes. Despite the benefits of ACL repair with promising results, ACL-R remains the gold standard for ACL lesions. There is still a lack of literature analyzing long-term outcomes; large series with homogenous populations and types of lesions are lacking. Based on the current evidence, further research and higher-quality studies investigating ACL repair will be necessary.