Development of an ACL Anchor: Effects of the Design Parameters on the Performance of a New Anterior Cruciate Ligament Fixation Device

We investigated the biomechanical properties of a newly designed self-expansion type anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) anchor. The ACL anchor consists of the ring section giving the elastic force, the wedge for maintaining in contact with the femur tunnel wall and the link suspending hamstring graft or artificial ligament. The main design parameters that determine the performance of this device were the expansion angle (${\theta}$) and the thickness ($t_R$). The Ti6Al4V anchors were heated after inserting in a jig for 1 hour at $800^{\circ}C$ in a protective argon gas atmosphere and allowed to cool to room temperature in the furnace. In order to investigate the influence of the expansion angle and the thickness of the ring on the biomechanical properties of the anchor, the maximum pull-out load, stiffness and slippage of the ACL anchor were measured using the pull-out tester, and statistical analyses were also executed. The present results showed that the design parameters gave a significant effect on the performance of the self- expansion type of anchor. The pull-out load of the ACL anchors significantly increased as the thickness of the ring section was increased, having a similar trend for both expansion angles. The ACL anchor showed about 2.5 times higher values of the pull-out load than that of the minimum load (500N)required for the "accelerated rehabilitation". The optimum ${\theta}$ and $t_R$ values of this ACL anchor were suggested to have sufficient resistance against the pull-out force, high stiffness and relatively low slippage after ACL reconstruction.