• ABSTRACT
    • Trends in practice patterns for ACL surgery can give us a real world look at what surgeons are actually doing. When large institutional studies show changing practice patterns over time, we can use that data to help benchmark our own practices. Innovations are inspired by colleagues, published literature, and industry, and not all innovation is positive. A return to independent drilling of the femoral and tibial tunnels reverses a single-incision trend that was less anatomic. While hamstring tendon grafts (HT) are a popular graft choice, HT shows higher revision rates, and high volume surgeons prefer bone-patellar tendon-bone and quadriceps tendon (QT) and autografts in general. Additional data is required to determine the benefit of QT and of lateral extra-articular tenodesis augmentation of ACL reconstruction. While a first step is to identify current practice patterns, the most important step is to study high quality data, to inform surgeons so they can individualize and optimize surgery for their patients.