Step-by-Step Arthroscopic Assessment of the Anterolateral Ligament of the Knee Using Anatomic Landmarks.

Abstract

New insights into the existence and function of the anterolateral ligament (ALL) of the knee have redirected and refocused attention on the secondary restraints of rotational stability of the knee. The importance of assessing the ALL is increasing, especially in anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction surgery, to decide on the need for an adjunctive extra-articular reconstruction of the ALL to control rotational instability of the knee. However, preoperative assessment of this ligament is difficult. Clinical assessment of rotatory instability has poor reproducibility. Moreover, it is difficult to assess by current imaging techniques. We describe an easy, simple, practical, safe, and reproducible arthroscopic technique to fully assess the ALL of the knee.