Morphological characteristics of posterior femoral condyle of knee anterolateral ligament injury based on CT findings

• Main Authors: SHI Min, QIU Lanyu, LI Jia, SHENG Bo, XIAO Zhibo, LYU Fajin, LYU Furong
• Format: Article
• Language: zho
• Published: Editorial Office of Journal of Third Military Medical University 2021-07-01
• Series: Di-san junyi daxue xuebao
• Subjects: anterolateral ligament; trauma and injuries; posterior femoral condyle; morphology; computerized tomography
• Online Access: http://aammt.tmmu.edu.cn/Upload/rhtml/202102053.htm

Objective To quantitatively measure and analyze the morphological features of posterior femoral condyle of anterolateral ligament (ALL) injury based on CT images. Methods A total of 41 knees with acute ALL injuries admitted in our hospital from January 2014 to April 2019 were retrospectively selected as the injury group, and the other 41 matched knee joints served as the control group. Their complete imaging data of the knee joints were collected, and the CT images were used to quantitatively measure the morphological parameters of knee joints in the 2 groups, including medial-lateral width of epicondyle (MLW), medial posterior condyle width (MPCW), and lateral posterior condyle width (LPCW), lateral condyle length (LCL), medial condyle length (MCL), lateral posterior condyle length (LPCL), medial posterior condyle length (MPCL), medial posterior condyle height (MPCH), and lateral posterior condyle height (LPCH). In addition, the ratios of posterior condyle widths (LPCW/MLW, MPCW/MLW) and those of lengths (LPCL/LCL, MPCL/MCL) was calculated to minimize individual differences. Statistical analysis was carried out for the differences of parameters between the 2 groups. Results The differences in width and length of posterior condyle between the 2 groups were statistically significant (P < 0.05). ① Width: MLW was greater (P=0.042), and the ratios of LPCW/MLW and MPCW/MLW were significantly lower in the ALL injury group than the control group (P < 0.05); ② Length: MCL, MPCL and LCL were larger (P < 0.05) and the ratio of LPCL/LCL was lower in ALL injury group than the control group (P < 0.01); ③ Height: There was no statistical difference in the height of medial and lateral posterior condyles between the 2 groups (P>0.05). Conclusion The medial posterior femoral condyle is narrower, and the lateral posterior femoral condyle is narrower and shorter. And shorter lateral posterior condyle increases the risk of ALL injury by changing the internal movement of knee joints.