A new interference nail fixation for anterior cruciate ligament soft tissue grafts.

We present a new device for femoral and tibial fixation in anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction using soft tissue. We evaluated the method biomechanically in pullout tests using human cadaver knee joints. Fixation strengths ranged from 300 +/- 60 to 600 +/- 50 N (mean 400 +/- 50 N). This corresponds to loads in the graft during aggressive rehabilitation although cadaveric specimens were used. With respect to primary fixation strength this implant is a reasonable alternative for anterior cruciate ligament graft fixation.