Trends in Primary and Revision Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction Among National Basketball Association Team Physicians

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears are common in athletes. Techniques and methods of treatment for these injuries continue to vary among surgeons.

Thirty National Basketball Association (NBA) team physicians were surveyed during the NBA Pre-Draft Combine. Survey questions involved current and previous practice methods of primary and revision ACL reconstruction, including technique, graft choice, rehabilitation, and treatment of combined ACL and medial collateral ligament injuries. Descriptive parametric statistics, Fisher exact test, and logistic regression were used, and significance was set at α = 0.05.

All 30 team physicians completed the survey. Eighty-seven percent indicated they use autograft (81% bone–patellar tendon–bone) for primary ACL reconstruction in NBA athletes, and 43% indicated they use autograft for revision cases. Fourteen surgeons (47%) indicated they use an anteromedial portal (AMP) for femoral tunnel drilling, whereas 5 years earlier only 4 (13%) used this technique. There was a significant (P = .009) positive correlation between fewer years in practice and AMP use.

NBA team physicians’ use of an AMP for femoral tunnel drilling has increased over the past 5 years.