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Posterior Cruciate Ligament

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Arthroscopy and Sport Injuries

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Abstract

The posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) is an intra-articular structure, surrounded by synovial membrane, and it provides about 95 % of the total resistance to posterior translation of the tibia. Its tensile strength is nearly twice that of the ACL [1]. Different studies demonstrated that, just like the ACL, PCL is composed of two different bundles: anterolateral (AL) and posteromedial (PM), which have different functions during knee movement [2, 3]. PCL has been described to be from 32 to 38 mm long and to have a cross-sectional area of 11 mm [4]. Femoral insertion of the PCL is located on the lateral side of the medial femoral condyle, in an area which is much larger than the ligament’s thickness: AL bundle insertion starts from the medial intercondylar ridge, 13 mm posterior to the medial articular cartilage-intercondylar wall interface and 13 mm inferior to the articular cartilage-intercondylar roof interface [5]. PM bundle insertion is located 8 mm posterior to the medial articular cartilage-intercondylar wall interface and 20 mm inferior to the articular cartilage-intercondylar roof interface [5]. The tibial insertion is located posteriorly to the posterior horn of the medial meniscus, 10–15 mm below the articular surface, around 7 mm anteriorly to the posterior tibial cortex [6, 7]. Just anteriorly to the PCL passes Humphrey’s ligament (also called anterior meniscofemoral ligament), connecting the posterior horn of the lateral meniscus to the medial femoral condyle. The same structures are connected also by the posterior meniscofemoral ligament (Wrisberg’s ligament), which is located posterior to the PCL. These two ligaments may serve as a secondary stabilizer in a PCL-deficient knee [8]. PCL is mainly vascularized by the middle geniculate artery and innervated by articular branches of the tibial nerve [9].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Arthroscopic and Reconstructive Knee surgery, Istituto Clinico Humanitas, Rozzano, Via Manzoni 56, Rozzano (MI), 20089, Italy

    Enrico Arnaldi, Andrea Bruno & Jacopo Tamini

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  1. Enrico Arnaldi
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  2. Andrea Bruno
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  3. Jacopo Tamini
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Correspondence to Andrea Bruno .

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  1. Knee Orthopedics and Sport Traumatology Unit,, Humanitas Clinical Institute IRCCS, Milan, Italy

    Piero Volpi

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Arnaldi, E., Bruno, A., Tamini, J. (2016). Posterior Cruciate Ligament. In: Volpi, P. (eds) Arthroscopy and Sport Injuries. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14815-1_43

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14815-1_43

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

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