Open AccessThe Chinese ACL injury population has a higher proportion of small ACL tibial insertion sizes than Western patients
Author(s) -
Li Feilong,
Qin Leilei,
Gong Xuan,
Huang Zhenggu,
Wang Ting,
Liu Ziming,
Sandiford Steve,
Yang Jianye,
Zhu Sizheng,
Liang Xi,
Huang Wei,
Hu Ning
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.806
H-Index - 125
eISSN - 1433-7347
pISSN - 0942-2056
DOI - 10.1007/s00167-019-05541-z
Subject(s) - medicine , acl injury , anterior cruciate ligament , anterolateral ligament , chinese population , surgery , orthodontics , nuclear medicine , anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction , biochemistry , genotype , gene , chemistry
Purpose The study purpose is to characterize the sizes of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) insertion site and intercondylar notch in Chinese patients undergoing ACL surgery. The findings will provide a reference for individualized clinical treatment of ACL rupture. Methods For this study, 137 patients (102 males, 35 females) with an average age of 30.3 ± 9.5 years (range 14–52 years) undergoing ACL reconstruction were included. The tibial ACL insertion site length and width and the intercondylar notch width were measured on MRI and arthroscopically using a ruler. Descriptive statistics of the patients, the distribution of the measurements and the differences between males and females were calculated. Results The ACL tibial insertion size and intercondylar notch width in Chinese patients with ACL injuries, as obtained by MRI and intra‐operatively, exhibited significant individual variability. The tibial ACL insertion site had a mean length of 13.5 ± 2.1 mm and width of 10.9 ± 1.5 mm as measured on MRI and a mean length of 13.3 ± 2.1 mm and width of 11.0 ± 1.6 mm as measured intra‐operatively. The mean intercondylar notch width was 15.2 ± 2.4 mm on MRI and the mean length was 15.0 ± 2.5 mm intra‐operatively. The inter‐rater reliability between MRI and intra‐operative measurements confirmed that the two methods were consistent. In 65.7% of individuals, the ACL tibial insertion length was < 14 mm. Conclusion The distribution of tibial footprint size in Chinese patients is different from that in Western populations. There is a higher proportion of subjects with a tibial footprint size < 14 mm among Chinese patients with ACL injury. Therefore, great care should be taken when treating this population with the double‐bundle technique or larger graft options. Level of evidence IV.