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Morphology of the fibular insertion of the posterolateral corner and biceps femoris tendon

  • Knee
  • Published:
Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy Aims and scope

Abstract

Purpose

To clarify the fibular head insertion of the fibular collateral ligament (FCL), popliteofibular ligament (PFL), and biceps femoris tendon and related osseous landmarks on three-dimensional (3-D) images.

Methods

Twenty-one non-paired, formalin-fixed human cadaveric knees were evaluated in this study. The fibular head insertions of the FCL, PFL and biceps femoris tendon were identified and marked. 3-D images were created, and the surface area, location, positional relationships, and morphology of the fibular insertions of the FCL, PFL, and biceps femoris tendon and related osseous structures were analysed.

Results

The fibular head had a unique pyramidal shape, and the relationships of the fibular insertion of the FCL, PFL, and biceps femoris tendon were consistent. The fibular head consists of three aspects: lateral aspect, posterior aspect, and proximal tibiofibular facet. The insertions of the FCL, PFL, and biceps femoris tendon were attached to the centre from the distal side of the lateral aspects of the fibular head, posterior aspect of the fibular styloid process, and lateral aspect surrounding the FCL, respectively. The mean surface areas of the FCL and PFL fibular insertions were 100.1 ± 29.5 and 18.5 ± 7.2 mm2, respectively.

Conclusion

This study showed that the relationships between the characteristic features of the fibular head and insertions of the FCL, PFL, and biceps femoris tendon were consistent. The clinical relevance of this study is that it improves understanding of the anatomy of the insertions of the PLC and biceps femoris tendon.

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Abbreviations

PLC:

Posterolateral corner

FCL:

Fibular collateral ligament

PFL:

Popliteofibular ligament

3-D:

Three-dimensional

CT:

Computed tomography

A-P:

Anteroposterior

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant No. 15K01562. The authors wish to thank Professors Jiro Hitomi and Yoichi Sato from the Department of Anatomy of Iwate Medial University for their continuous support of this study. We are grateful for the support and encouragement of Kotaro Fujino, MD, PhD, and Sanjuro Takeda, MD, PhD. We also thank Mr. Masayoshi Kamata from the Department of Radiology of Iwate Medical University Hospital for his technical assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Iwate Medical University, 19-1 Uchimaru, Morioka, Iwate, 020-8505, Japan

    Hirotaka Takahashi, Goro Tajima, Shuhei Kikuchi, Yoichi Kamei, Moritaka Maruyama, Atsushi Sugawara, Takaaki Saigo & Minoru Doita

  2. Department of Anatomy, Iwate Medical University, Morioka, Japan

    Jun Yan

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  1. Hirotaka Takahashi
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  2. Goro Tajima
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  3. Shuhei Kikuchi
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  4. Jun Yan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Goro Tajima.

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Conflict of interest

All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Funding

This study was funded by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 15K01562.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with ethical standards of the institutional and /or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in this study.

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Takahashi, H., Tajima, G., Kikuchi, S. et al. Morphology of the fibular insertion of the posterolateral corner and biceps femoris tendon. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc 25, 184–191 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-016-4304-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-016-4304-x

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