Anatomy of the Posterior Cruciate Ligament and the Meniscofemoral Ligaments
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Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc (2006) 14: 257–263 KNEE DOI 10.1007/s00167-005-0686-x A. A. Amis Anatomy of the posterior cruciate ligament C. M. Gupte A. M. J. Bull and the meniscofemoral ligaments A. Edwards Abstract This paper describes the close to the articular cartilage; the Received: 15 February 2005 Accepted: 2 April 2005 anatomy of the posterior cruciate posterior MFL attaches proximal to Published online: 14 October 2005 ligament (PCL) and the meniscofe- the PCL. They both attach distally Ó Springer-Verlag 2005 moral ligaments (MFLs). The fibres to the posterior horn of the lateral of the PCL may be split into two meniscus. Their slanting orientation functional bundles; the anterolateral allows the MFLs to resist tibial bundle (ALB) and the posteromedial posterior drawer. & A. A. Amis ( ) Æ C. M. Gupte bundle (PMB), relating to their A. Edwards Biomechanics Section, Department of femoral attachments. The tibial Keywords Posterior cruciate Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College attachment is relatively compact, ligament Æ Meniscofemoral London, Room 638 Mechanical Engineer- with the ALB anterior to the PLB. ligament Æ Anatomy Æ Fibre ing Building, London, SW7 2AZ, UK These bundles are not isometric: the bundles Æ Length changes E-mail: [email protected] Tel.: +44-20-75947062 ALB is tightest in the mid-arc of Fax: +44-20-75815495 knee flexion, the PMB is tight at both extension and deep flexion. At A. A. Amis Æ C. M. Gupte Department of Musculoskeletal Surgery, least one MFL is present in 93% of Imperial College London, London knees. On the femur, the anterior SW6 8RF, UK MFL attaches distal to the PCL, Introduction Because of this, knee flexion–extension causes them to have different patterns of tightening and slackening, and This anatomical paper describes the posterior cruciate so they become more or less important. This relates to ligament (PCL) and the meniscofemoral ligaments the patterns of damage that are caused by injuries with (MFLs). It describes the bony attachments of the lig- the knee flexed or extended, and also to the importance aments, their fibre anatomy, and the patterns of of graft tunnel positions and tensioning protocols for tightening and slackening of the ligament fibres during restoring tibial posterior laxity to normal. knee flexion–extension. This description can be tied in The PCL is the primary restraint to tibial posterior with other texts that describe the function of these draw, contributing approximately 90% of the resis- structures. tance across most of the arc of knee flexion [4, 20]. The PCL is a very strong ligament, with a maximum Recently, however, there has been increasing knowl- tensile load reported in the range 739–1,627 N [13, 16, edge of the role of other structures in providing this 18, 19, 22]. This is stronger than the anterior cruciate function as the knee reaches extension [3]. This helps to ligament (ACL) in specimens of similar age. The explain why an isolated PCL rupture often does not strength relates to a large cross-sectional area, and the lead to disabling instability, despite the strength of the fibres spread out to an extensive femoral attachment. damaged structure. 258 Femoral attachment of the PCL The femoral attachment of the PCL extends more than 20 mm in an anterior–posterior (AP) direction across the roof and medial side of the femoral intercondylar notch. The PCL attachment is bounded distally by the margin of the articular cartilage of the medial femoral condyle and in general conforms to a ‘half-moon’ shape. The extent of the attachment is variable, and is influ- enced by the presence or absence of the MFLs. In the specimen illustrated in Fig. 1 the PCL attachment ex- tends as far posteriorly as it can against the margin of the articular cartilage. In some knees the attachment is more compact than this and does not extend so far posteriorly. The PCL does not attach solely to the medial side of the femoral intercondylar notch, but also to the roof of the notch. A straight posterior–anterior view reveals Fig. 2 The PCL attaches close to the edge of the condylar articular that the anterior fibres of the PCL, which are the most cartilage. It usually extends from approximately 7.30 to 12.30 lateral part of it, pass in a sagittal plane to the roof of o’clock position in a left knee; this example is wider. The aMFL slants across the PCL the notch. In contrast, the posterior fibres take an ob- lique path as they pass up to the wall of the femoral condyle medially and down to the tibia laterally. When viewed from the anterior aspect of the flexed knee, the distal aspect of the PCL femoral attachment is revealed in the so-called ‘notch view’ (Fig. 2). It can be seen that the fibres extend in the left knee from approximately 12.00 to 1.00 o’clock, at the top of the notch, back round from approximately the 7.30 to 8.00 o’clock position, which is adjacent to the tibial plateau. Thus, the entire medial aspect of the femoral interc- ondylar notch has the PCL attached to it in this view. The anterior meniscofemoral ligament (aMFL) of Humphrey slants across the PCL and also attaches adjacent to the femoral condylar articular cartilage Fig. 1 The femoral attachment of the PCL. Lateral–medial view in Fig. 3 a Proximal-distal view of tibial plateau with PCL attach- a left knee after removal of the lateral femoral condyle. The ment marked. b Posterior–anterior view of tibial plateau with PCL anterolateral and posteromedial bundles of the PCL, plus anterior attachment marked. Note how the attachment area passes ‘over the meniscofemoral ligament attachments are outlined back’ 259 [1, 8]. When the femoral attachment area of the PCL is entire flat intercondylar surface of the posterior tibial viewed in the PCL-deficient knee, it is seen that the bulk plateau (‘posterior intercondylar fossa’) from the pos- of the attachment area, that corresponds to the antero- terior edge of the root of the posterior horn of the lateral (AL) fibre bundle, is between the 9.00 o’clock and medial meniscus to within 2 mm of the posterior rim of 12.00 o’clock position in the left knee. The attachment the plateau. Its shape is trapezoidal, wider posteriorly. also extends further down towards the tibial plateau, The posteromedial bundle (PMB) occupies a central that is posteriorly on the femur, as the posteromedial area of the posterior surface of the tibia from immedi- (PM) fibre bundle area. The shape and size of the an- ately above the plateau rim. The bundle’s most posterior teromedial bundle is consistent in most knees, however, and distal attachment occurs distal to the tibial plateau. the variability in the size and shape of the PCL is mostly Its fibres blend with those of the tibial periosteum and reflected in variations in the PMB size both in mid- the attachment of the knee joint capsule to the tibia and substance and its attachment. In some knees, the pos- is demarcated by the presence of a small transverse ridge terior meniscofemoral ligament (pMFL) is a significant on the tibia. Superiorly its attachment meets that of the and relatively large structure. This may have some AL bundle. The overall orientation of the tibial attach- bearing on PCL reconstruction technique, in that one ment reflects the path of the fibres of the PMB, slanting may be able to replace the anterolateral bundle (ALB) postero-lateral-distally. Thus the PMB attachment is alone if the pMFL is substantial and intact. Currently, distal and lateral to the ALB attachment. When the PCL this is simply a point of conjecture. is intact, the most-posterior fibres pass ‘over the top’ of the tibial shelf and extend distally and insert into the distal periosteum close to the attachment area of the Tibial attachment of the PCL popliteus muscle. The fibre anatomy of the PCL can be divided into Looking down onto the tibial plateau from a proximal two main fibre bundles: AL and PM [1, 5, 12, 17, 19, 23]. viewpoint it is seen that the PCL attachment is relatively The split between the two bundles in Fig. 4 has been compact (Fig. 3a). It is onto the superior aspect of the created by dissection; this is an artificial division and not posterior tibial ‘shelf’. The attachment is nestled be- a natural phenomenon. This division between the two tween the posterior horns of the two menisci. bundles is based on their different tightening and When viewed posteriorly the PCL tibial attachment is slackening behaviour during knee flexion and extension. seen to extend over the posterior rim of the shelf. Above It can be seen that the ALB attaches mostly to the roof the shelf the attachment relates mostly to the AL fibre of the intercondylar notch, while the PMB attaches bundle area of the PCL. The attachment of the PM fibre mostly to the medial side wall of the notch on to the bundle includes the most posterior area above the shelf, medial femoral condyle. There is some overlapping of and also the area immediately below the shelf (Fig. 3b). the bundles from anterior to posterior, with the PMB The ALB occupies a central area covering almost the attaching slightly proximal to the ALB. The ALB has a larger cross-sectional area than the PM, and is much stronger [19]. Although the mid-substance proportions of the AL and PMBs are considerably different, the tibial attachments have much more similar areas. The fibre bundles do not twist around themselves in the extended knee.