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Morphological Changes to the Cruciate Ligaments and Menisci in Relation to ageing.
Author(s) -
Hirtler Lena,
Toader IanPhilip,
Röhrich Sebastian,
Kainberger Franz
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.2018.32.1_supplement.644.14
Subject(s) - anterior cruciate ligament , medicine , tibia , sagittal plane , anatomy , medial meniscus , lateral meniscus , ageing , age groups , cruciate ligament , meniscus , orthodontics , osteoarthritis , geometry , pathology , mathematics , demography , alternative medicine , incidence (geometry) , sociology
In this retrospective, cross‐sectional MRI based study on the anatomy of the cruciate ligaments (ACL, PCL) and the menisci (MM, LM) of the human knee, the goal was to identify possible age‐ and gender dependent variations in morphometry of these structures. 332 patients were included, 184 women (55,4 %) and 148 men (44,6 %), all who underwent an MRI examination of the knee. Age distribution ranged from 1 year (y) to 78 y with a mean of 33 years. All patients were subdivided in 6 age groups (younger then 10y, 11–20y, 21–30y, 31–45y, 45–55y, older then 56y). Exclusion criteria consisted of poor image quality as well as destructive and space occupying, pathological processes in close vicinity to the capsular apparatus and investigated structures, respectively. Measurements included following parameters. ACL: length, blumensaat angle, ACL‐tibia angle, cross‐sectional‐area (CSA), diameter (APD), width, intercondylar notch width (ICN); PCL: length, PCL angle, Angle Ratio, CSA, APD, width; Menisci: height of the anterior and posterior horns, height and width of the mid‐body, axial APD of the menisci, tibia width. There were significant correlations between age and length, CSA, APD, width and both angles of the cruciate ligaments. Male ACL size was greater in nearly every parameter when compared to the female population. Merely Blumensaat and tibia angle showed greater values in the female cohort. ACL/ICN‐ratio also correlated significantly with age. Especially when evaluating the younger age groups significant differences could be observed. Sagittal height of the meniscus horns correlated significantly with coronal height of the meniscus body in several age groups. There was also a significant correlation between medial and lateral meniscus height. Tibia width presented a significant but weak predictor of medial and lateral meniscus width. This is one of the largest studies evaluating the cruciate ligaments and menisci in different phases of life when considering cohort size. The results concur with most of the results stated in previous and similar studies. Although there has been an abundance in studies about the cruciate ligaments and the menisci in the last decades there is still little detail known about the morphological changes of these structures in different phases of life. The results of this study aim to increase the anatomical knowledge of the investigated structures as well as to establish standard measurements for further studies and to differentiate between normal and pathologic conditions. Support or Funding Information No funding was received. This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal .