• Wolf Petersen, Philipp Forkel, Andrea Achtnich, Sebastian Metzlaff, and Thore Zantop.
• Department of Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery, Martin Luther Hospital, Caspar Theyss Strasse 27-34, Grunewald, 14193, Berlin, Germany. w.petersen@mlk-berlin.de
• Arch Orthop Trauma Surg. 2013 Jun 1;133(6):827-33.

PurposeThe purpose of this article was to demonstrate an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction technique using oval tunnels. Aim of this single bundle technique is to fit the footprint anatomy of the ACL as closely as possible. TECHNIQUE AND PATIENTS: The presented technique is a single bundle technique using a semitendinosus graft. For femoral tunnel placement, a specific medial portal aimer (Karl Storz, Tuttlingen, Germany) is used. Aiming and drilling of the femoral tunnel are performed via the medial portal. Oval tunnels are created by stepwise dilatation with ovally shaped dilatators. The position of the femoral tunnel is visualized and controlled with the arthroscope via the medial portal. For the tibial tunnel placement, a specific aimer was used as well. With this technique, 24 patients were operated and all intra- and postoperative complications were analyzed prospectively. The tunnel position was documented postoperatively by CT scan.ResultsThere were no significant intra- and postoperative complications associated with the oval tunnel technique. The postoperative 3D CT scan revealed that all femoral and tibial tunnels were located within the area of the anatomical ACL insertions.ConclusionsThis article presents an ACL reconstruction technique using oval dilatators and medial portal aimers to create oval tunnels. These oval tunnels match the insertion site anatomy much closer than round tunnels do.Level Of EvidenceLevel IV, case series.

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