Surgical Technique for Anatomic Transtibial Femoral Tunnel Positioning Without Hyperflexion
The Pathfinder ACL System allows a simple – but critical - modification of the conventional Transtibial Technique (TT) for femoral graft placement. This modification - termed the “Hybrid Transtibial Technique” - combines the strengths of both Transtibial and AM Portal approaches and eliminates their primary weaknesses.
Advantages of the Hybrid Transtibial Technique include:
- Femoral tunnel apertures that achieve >90% overlap with the native femoral insertion
- The ability to keep the knee at 90 degrees of flexion throughout femoral tunnel preparation, thus preventing the difficulties associated with hyperflexion of the knee in AM Portal technique
- Minimal femoral tunnel angulation, making graft passage much easier than an AM portal technique
- Tunnel lengths similar to the traditional Transtibial technique, minimizing graft tunnel mismatch
- Transtibial reamer path eliminates risk of articular cartilage damage and posterior wall breakthrough
Published studies demonstrate that the above characteristics optimize biomechanical, kinematic and clinical outcomes.
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