The position of the posterolateral bundle femoral tunnel during arthroscopic double-bundle anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: a cadaveric study.

Purpose: The purpose was to find a simple guideline to help establish accurate positioning of the posterolateral bundle (PLB) femoral bone tunnel during double-bundle anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction by measuring the distance between the center of the PLB femoral footprint to the shallow and the deep articular cartilage borders of the lateral wall of the intercondylar notch.

Methods: The femoral insertions of the anteromedial bundle and PLB of the anterior cruciate ligament were dissected in 22 male cadaveric knees, aged 25 to 45 years. By use of the intercondylar notch as the landmark, the distances between the center of the PLB femoral footprint and the shallow and the deep articular cartilage borders of the lateral wall of the intercondylar notch were measured with the knees flexed at 90°. The measured data (mean ± standard deviation) were evaluated and compared.

Results: The center of the PLB was positioned 8.60 ± 1.52 mm and 8.65 ± 1.54 mm from the shallow and the deep cartilage borders of the lateral wall of the intercondylar notch, respectively (P = .95). The distance between the center of the PLB footprint to the low cartilage border of the lateral intercondylar wall was 5.05 ± 0.76 mm.

Conclusions: The findings suggest that the position of the center of the PLB femoral footprint is at the middle of the line joining the shallow and the deep borders of the femoral cartilage.

Clinical Relevance: Surgeons can use our results as a guideline and use the PLB footprint remnant as a reference at the same time to locate the femoral PLB tunnel in a simple, easy, and repeatable way.