MORPHOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF CRUCIATE LIGAMENTS

Abstract

Introduction: Anterior cruciate ligaments (ACL) and posterior cruciate ligaments (PCL) are tough band of fibrous structures extending between tibia and femur. Cruciate ligaments are at risk of injury in sports personnel. Injured ligaments are treated by reconstruction surgeries which require the morphometric understanding. Therefore, this study intended to find the length and width of ACL and PCL in cadavers and by MRI in healthy individuals. Material and methods: Thirty embalmed cadaver knees were dissected to expose the ligaments. Length and width of the ligaments was measured by the Vernier’s calipers. Thirty MRIs of knee joint with no previous detected knee pathology were obtained and reviewed. The data was tabulated for statistical analysis. Student‘t’ test was used for comparison. P value <0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: In the cadavers, ACL was significantly longer than PCL in length (p <0.014). PCL width was larger than ACL width (p <0.001). Conclusion: The present study contributes to the relative morphometric data on ACL and PCL and stresses that PCL is shorter and wider than ACL making it a more stable structure.