Clinical and experimental experience in reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament.

Various methods for reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament have been described in the literature. In 1968 Broström et al. described a reconstruction using the medial third of the patellar ligament as a substitute for the cruciate ligament. (The operative procedure is described elsewhere in this book by Eriksson and has also been described by Alm and Gillquist.) The aim of the present investigation was to study the long term clinical results after reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament using the medial third of the patellar ligament. The clinical and morphological findings were correlated at various intervals after reconstruction of the ligament. The influence of the rotatory movement of the tibia on the tensile strength and on the elongation of the anterior cruciate ligament was studied experimentally. To clarify the vascular anatomy and morphology of the cruciate ligaments and to study the vascularization and fate of the transposed part of the patellar ligament, experimental surgery was performed in dogs.