Background: There has been a substantial increase in the amount of systematic reviews and meta-analyses published on the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).
Purpose: To quantify the number of systematic reviews and meta-analyses published on the ACL in the past decade and to provide an overall summary of this literature.
Study design: Systematic review; Level of evidence, 4.
Methods: A systematic review of all ACL-related systematic reviews and meta-analyses published between January 2004 and September 2014 was performed using PubMed, MEDLINE, and the Cochrane Database. Narrative reviews and non-English articles were excluded.
Results: A total of 1031 articles were found, of which 240 met the inclusion criteria. Included articles were summarized and divided into 17 topics: anatomy, epidemiology, prevention, associated injuries, diagnosis, operative versus nonoperative management, graft choice, surgical technique, fixation methods, computer-assisted surgery, platelet-rich plasma, rehabilitation, return to play, outcomes assessment, arthritis, complications, and miscellaneous.
Conclusion: A summary of systematic reviews on the ACL can supply the surgeon with a single source for the most up-to-date synthesis of the literature.
Keywords: anterior cruciate ligament; meta-analysis; surgery; systematic review.