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Graft bending angle of the reconstructed posterior cruciate ligament gradually decreases as knee flexion increases

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Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy Aims and scope

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of the study was to determine the change in the graft bending angles at the femoral and tibial tunnel aperture in single-bundle posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) reconstruction. It was hypothesized that different knee flexion and different tunnel directions may affect changes of the femoral and tibial graft bending angle.

Methods

The right knees of 12 male subjects were scanned with a high-resolution computed tomography scanner at 4 different knee flexion angles (0°, 45°, 90° and 135°). To begin with, the 3D knee models were created and manipulated with the use of several modeling programs.

Single-bundle PCL reconstruction was then virtually conducted in a 90° flexion model: The femoral and tibial graft bending angle, according to the various knee flexion angles, was calculated using a special software program.

Results

The femoral graft bending angle significantly decreased as the knee flexion increased between 0° and 135° (all p < 0.001). The femoral graft bending angle of the AL graft showed the most obtuse angles among the three types of the graft beyond 45° of knee flexion.

For the tibial graft bending angle, the anteromedial tunnel group showed significantly more acute tibial graft bending angle than the anterolateral tunnel group in all three types of the graft at all flexion angles (all p < 0.001).

Conclusion

Changes in the femoral graft bending angle were generally affected by different knee flexion angles. The effect of tibial tunnel direction on the tibial graft bending angle was found to be significant. The clinical relevance is that a mostly obtuse femoral graft bending angle was shown by the AL graft among three types of the graft.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, The Arthroscopy and Joint Research Institute, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Min Jung

  2. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Dongtan Sacred Heart Hospital, Hallym University, 7, Keunjaebong-gil, Hwaseong-si, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea

    Si Young Song, Myoungsoo Cha, Hyun-Min Chung & Young-Jin Seo

  3. BioComputing Lab, Institute for Bio-Engineering Application Technology, School of Computer Science and Engineering, Korea University of Technology and Education (KOREATECH), Cheonan, Republic of Korea

    Yoon Sang Kim & Seong-wook Jang

Authors
  1. Min Jung
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  2. Si Young Song
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  3. Myoungsoo Cha
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  4. Hyun-Min Chung
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  5. Yoon Sang Kim
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  6. Seong-wook Jang
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  7. Young-Jin Seo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Young-Jin Seo.

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All named authors hereby declare that they have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Funding

There is no funding statement for the current study.

Ethical approval

The institutional review board of hallym university, dongtan sacred heart hospital approved the study (IRB no. HDT2018-06–009).

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Jung, M., Song, S.Y., Cha, M. et al. Graft bending angle of the reconstructed posterior cruciate ligament gradually decreases as knee flexion increases. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc 28, 2626–2633 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-020-05899-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-020-05899-5

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