Summary

ACL, anatomy, mid-substance cross-sectional area of the ACL , knee osseous morphology

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to reveal the correlation between the mid-substance cross-sectional area of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and the knee osseous morphology.

Methods

39 non-paired formalin fixed Japanese cadaveric knees were used. All surrounding muscles, ligaments and other soft tissues in the knee were resected before ACL dissection. After soft tissue resection, knees were flexed at 90 degrees, and a tangential line of the femoral posterior condyles was marked and cut the ACL. Femoral ACL footprint size, Blumensaat’s line length, lateral wall of femoral intercondylar notch area, lateral wall of femoral intercondylar notch height, tibial ACL footprint size, tibia plateau size, the AP length of the whole, medial, lateral facet of the tibia plateau, the ML length of the tibia plateau were measured with Image J software (National Institution of Health). The Pearson’s product movement correlation was calculated to reveal the correlation between mid-substance cross-sectional area of the ACL and the measured parameters of knee osseous morphology.

Results

The measured area of the mid-substance cross-sectional ACL was 62.2±17.3mm2. Area of the tibial ACL footprint, area of the tibia plateau, the AP length of the whole facet of the tibia plateau, the AP length of the lateral facet of the tibia plateau and the ML length of the tibia plateau were significantly correlated with the mid-substance cross-sectional area of the ACL.

Discussion

The most important finding of this study was that the significant correlation was observed between mid-substance cross-sectional area of the ACL and the osseous morphology of the tibia plateau. The ACL footprint evaluation has been performed in many studies, the ACL mid-substance morphology has been rarely reported. Considering that the most important structure of the ACL is it’s mid-substance portion, the evaluation of the mid-substance portion of the ACL should be performed more on detail.

Conclusions

For clinical relevance, area of the tibial ACL footprint, area of the tibia plateau, the AP length of the whole, lateral facet of the tibia plateau, the ML length of the tibia plateau were significantly correlated with mid-substance cross-sectional area of the ACL. It might be possible to predict the size of the mid-substance ACL measuring these parameters.