For a young athlete with an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, choosing the right approach to reconstruction is an important part of the path back to sports and activities.
Javier Masquijo, M.D., pediatric orthopedic surgeon at Scottish Rite for Children, is introducing a rectus femoris ACL reconstruction technique to adolescent patients in the United States. The technique, which has been used in the adult population in Europe and South America, offers another graft option designed with the needs of young athletes in mind.
During ACL reconstruction, surgeons typically use tissue from hamstrings, patellar tendon, quadriceps, or iliotibial band to create a new ligament. Different graft options can affect recovery in different ways.
The rectus femoris technique uses the most superficial portion of the quadriceps while preserving other important structures around the knee. Potential benefits include less impact to the area where the graft is taken compared with traditional full-thickness quadriceps tendon grafts. The approach also preserves the hamstring muscles, which play an important role in knee stability, and may reduce the anterior knee pain that can occur when tissue is taken from the patellar tendon.
For young athletes working toward returning to the sports they love, preserving strength and function throughout the knee can be an important consideration during recovery.
Scottish Rite’s sports medicine team is actively studying the technique, evaluating functional recovery, patient-reported outcomes, and complication rates.
Through this research, the team continues to evaluate approaches to ACL reconstruction with the unique needs of growing and active patients in mind.
