Patellar Tendon Graft

• All ACL reconstruction surgeries involve replacing the ACL with tissue from another part of the body, to perform the function of the ACL. The tissue, taken from elsewhere on the body, is called a graft. The patellar tendon graft is one popular type of graft. The patellar tendon is a tendon that connects the knee cap to the tibia. Because it is a long and strong tendon surrounded on both ends by bones (bone to bone healing is the fastest and best type of healing), it is popular graft to use to replace the ACL. Disadvantages include a higher level of pain after surgery, during rehabilitation and when kneeling.
  
  

Hamstring Graft

• A hamstring graft takes several pieces of small tendons near the hamstring and fuses them to make one graft that will be inserted into the knee and take over the functions of the torn ACL. Benefits include a smaller incision, less pain when harvesting the tissue to act as the graft and a reduced chance of long-term pain. However, the healing period is slower than when a patellar tendon graft is used because bone-to-bone healing is not taking place.
  
  

Allograft

• If a patient is unable or unwilling to have a graft taken from his own body, an allograft (also called a cadaver graft) is used. This means that tissue is taken from a cadaver (a donated dead body) and used to form the new ACL. This makes recovery quicker because you have only one surgical incision rather than two (the incision necessary to extract the tissue and the incision necessary to implant it). However, diseases can be spread using foreign tissue, and there is a greater chance of a bacterial infection following surgery.