Effect of Tunnel Drilling Portal on Femoral Tunnel Entry Aperture’s Location in Arthroscopic Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction

Abstract

IntroductionTransportal techniques for femoral tunnel drilling have the advantage of anatomical anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction, which was earlier difficult to achieve through transtibial femoral tunnels. However, the medial arthroscopic portal used for femoral tunnel drilling in single-bundle anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) has not been uniformly placed in different studies. Therefore, we performed a computed tomography-based analysis to compare the femoral tunnel entry aperture of the ACLR cases that used the standard AM portal and those using a far medial portal for femoral tunnel drilling.MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed computed tomography images of patients who underwent isolated single-bundle ACLR in our institute with either standard anteromedial portal or the far medial portal used for the femoral tunnel drilling. The femoral tunnel aperture's depth and height, measured using the quadrant method, were compared between the two portal methods.ResultsA total of forty-two case records were reviewed, sixteen belonging to standard anteromedial portal technique and twenty-six belonging to far medial portal technique. The tunnels created through the far AM portal were significantly shallower (more anterior) and inferior than the standard AM portal-created femoral tunnels.ConclusionThe choice of drilling portals can influence transportal femoral tunnel drilling. A tendency towards anterior and inferior positioning of the femoral tunnel entry aperture has been observed when a far medial arthroscopic portal is used for femoral tunnel drilling. Therefore, care must be taken to ensure that the drilling guide pin position does not change when the reamer is passed over it.