ANATOMORADIOLOGICAL STUDY OF FEMORAL INSERTION OF THE TWO STRANDS OF THE POSTERIOR CRUCIATE LIGAMENT

Purpose: The posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) has two strands, an anterolateral strand (AL) and a posteromedial strand (PM). Its femoral insertion fans out over 3 cm and cannot be replaced by a unique transplant during surgical reconstruction. The purpose of this study was to define the anatomic centre of the femoral insertion of each stand in order to identify precise and reproducible landmarks for the bone tunnels (one for each strand) used to fix the transplants during reconstruction of the PCL.Material and methods: A metallic landmark was placed on the centre of the femoral insertion of the two PCL strands in ten cadaver knees. The Metros software package was used to analyse the digitalised radiograms of each knee to determine the position of the strands on the medial condyle. Intra- and inter-observer variability was determined.Results: The AL strand was situated 31.6 + 2.45% (47.2 + 6.02% for the PM strand) from the anterior border of the notch or 41.18 + 2.73% (54.46 + 5.07% for the PM) from the a...