EVALUATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE FEMORAL INTERCONDYLAR NOTCH ANGLE AND ANTERIOR CRUCIATE LIGAMENT RUPTURE BY COMPUTERIZED TOMOGRAPHY

Abstract

Introduction: Aim of this study was to evaluate the association between the tendency to anterior cruciate ligament rupture and femoral intercondylar notch angle.
Patients and methods: 30 patients with chronic ACL lesion confirmed arthroscopically were randomly assigned for the study. Controls were established from the volunteers of similar demographic characteristics as of the study group, and who had not had a history of significant previous knee injury. Both knees in the study and the control groups were measured according to the method described by Anderson et al.1. Intercondylar notch angle measurements were compared statistically by using one-way ANOVA test and Tukey’s post hoc test, and the level of significance was set at p<0.05.
Results: Statistically significant differences were detected between the ACL injured and control groups in regard to intercondylar notch angle (49.43 ± 7.13 and 55.58 ± 7.20 respectively, p=0.004).We also compared the differences between the healthy knees of the ACL injured and control groups and found also similar significant differences between the two groups (50.82 ± 7.41 and 55.58 ± 7.20 respectively, p=0.004). Patients with ACL lesion had decreased intercondylar notch angles in their both knees compared to control group.
Discussion: According to these findings narrow intercondylar notch might play a significant role in anatomical tendency to ACL rupture.