The transportal technique shows better clinical results than the transtibial techniques for single-bundle anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction

Although anatomical and independent drilling techniques, such as transportal (TP) technique, have become more popular in anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction, the TP technique has not been shown to yield superior clinical or functional outcomes compared to the transtibial (TT) technique. The aim of the current meta-analysis was to compare clinical outcomes of the TP and TT techniques, as determined by patient-reported outcome scores and knee joint laxity tests. It was hypothesized that the TP and TT techniques of ACL reconstruction would yield similar patient-reported functional outcomes and similar results on knee joint laxity tests.

Studies were included if they reported at least one of the following clinical outcomes: IKDC score, IKDC examination, Lysholm knee score, and Tegner activity score. Knee stability was evaluated by single or multiple parameters of the following knee laxity examinations: the Lachman test, the pivot shift test, and side-to-side difference on the instrumented knee laxity test.

Sixteen studies were finally included in this meta-analysis. The proportions of patients with normal grade on the IKDC examination [odds ratio (OR) 2.23; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.41–3.53; P = 0.0006] and Lysholm score (mean difference 1.27; 95% CI 0.23–2.31; P = 0.02) after surgery were higher with the TP than with the TT technique, but there were no differences in IKDC and Tegner scores. The postoperative proportion of normal knee joint stability was significantly higher with the TP than the TT technique, on both Lachman (OR 2.29; 95% CI 1.35–3.92; P = 0.002) and pivot shift (OR 2.13; 95% CI 1.12–4.05; P = 0.02) tests. The pooled mean side-to-side difference was 0.73 mm lower with the TP than the TT technique (95% CI − 1.14 to − 0.32 mm; P = 0.0005).

This meta-analysis showed that the clinical outcomes of ACL reconstruction were better with the TP than the TT technique, both on knee functional outcome scales and knee laxity tests. The findings thus suggest that the TP technique would be a better option for single-bundle ACL reconstruction compared to the TT technique.

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