Arthroscopic reconstruction of the posterior cruciate ligament

Background
Posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) tears have historically been underdiagnosed because they are often asymptomatic. It now appears that PCL tears occur more frequently than has been previously appreciated. The PCL is named for its insertion on the tibia.
Objective
The aim of this study was to clarify when and how to go for arthroscopic reconstruction of the PCL, reviewing the latest arthroscopic techniques.
Patients and methods
This prospective study included 20 patients (17 males and three females). Their mean age was 48 years [48.23±10.53 (range 20–60) years]. All patients presented with PCL injury, whether isolated injury or combined with other ligamentous injury, closed knee injury, with no previous ligamentous reconstruction of PCL on the same side, and all being fit for surgery. Preoperative radiographs and MRI were done to establish PCL injury diagnosis together with the clinical evaluation.
Results
We found that PCL injury was found to be combined with other ligamentous injury rather than isolated (60% combined injury). We found satisfactory highly statistically significant difference between preoperative and postoperative results according to Lysholm Score. The mean preoperative total Lysholm Score was 24.77 in comparisons with the mean postoperative total Lysholm Score of 90.13. Clinical examination according to IKCD Score shows less significant difference in general. In contrast, comparison between preoperative and postoperative results according to posterior drawer test and total score shows highly significant difference (<0.001).
Conclusion
In our study, we reached the concept that arthroscopic reconstruction of PCL injuries has low rate of complications, within 13.33%. Arthroscopic single-bundle reconstruction may be complicated with hardware complications, loss of motion, infection, and donor site morbidity.