ArticleKnee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA2022
The morphology of the femoral footprint of the anterior cruciate ligament changes with aging from a large semicircular shape to a small flat ribbon-like shape.
Article in Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- Consistency of Subcortical Osseous Structures in Femoral Cruciate Ligament Attachment Sites: A Combined 3D-CT and Histological Anatomical Study.Journal of personalized medicine · 2026Article
- Morphometric and Histological Insights to Aid Graft Selection for Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction.Cureus · 2026Article
- Comparative Meta-Analysis of ACL Footprint Anatomy Between Asian and Western Populations.Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine · 2025Review
- Spatially resolved structure-function mapping of the anterior cruciate ligament-bone interface : regional variation in microarchitecture, tensile properties, and stress distribution.Bone & joint research · 2025Article
- Variation in area proportion and mechanical properties between different subregions of ACL insertion: An in vitro biomechanical study in a porcine model.Journal of experimental orthopaedics · 2025Article
- Validation of CLASS MRI for personalized ACL footprints identification.Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA · 2025Article
- Specific fibre areas in the femoral footprint of the posterior cruciate ligament act as a major contributor in resisting posterior tibial displacement: A biomechanical robotic investigation.Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA · 2025Article
- Anterior talofibular ligament footprint dimension measured using three-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging.Skeletal radiology · 2025Article
- Anatomic Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction With Eccentric Femoral Footprint Positioning Using a Modified Transtibial Technique.Arthroscopy techniques · 2025Article
- The forgotten third: understanding the ACL femoral insertion and lateral intercondylar ridge extension onto the notch roof.Surgical and radiologic anatomy : SRA · 2025Article
- Double-Bundle Anterior Cruciate Ligament Repair and Augmentation With Lateral Extra-articular Tenodesis.Arthroscopy techniques · 2024Article
- Unraveling sex-specific risks of knee osteoarthritis before menopause: Do sex differences start early in life?Osteoarthritis and cartilage · 2024Review
- Lateral femoral tunnel preparation and graft fixation for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction-A discussion.World journal of clinical cases · 2024Article
- Anterior cruciate ligament femoral footprint is oblong-ovate, triangular, or two-tears shaped in healthy young adults: three-dimensional MRI analysis.Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeCompare the differences in the morphology of the ACL femoral footprint between the cadavers of the young and elderly in consideration of the degenerative physiological process that occurs with aging.
methodsThe femoral footprint of the ACL was dissected in 81 knees of known gender and age (45 male/36 female). They were divided into four groups by age and gender, establishing 50 years as the cut-off point to divide patients by age. Three observers analyzed the femoral footprint dissections, and the shapes were described and classified. The area and morphometric characteristics of the femoral insertion of the ACL were determined and these were compared between genders and age groups.
resultsThe femoral footprint of the ACL from the cadavers of males younger than 50 years of age presented a semicircular morphology in 90% of the cases. In males aged more than 50 years, a ribbon-like morphology was found in 96% of the cases. In women less than 50 years old, the semicircular morphology was observed in 93.7% of the cases. In women aged over 50 years old, the ribbon-like morphology was found in 95% of the cases. A significant difference was observed between the prevalence rates of the morphologies, area size and measurements of the younger and older groups (p < 0.001 for both genders).
conclusionsThe femoral insertion of the ACL presents variations in its morphology, area and morphometric characteristics over time. It goes from a large semicircular shape that almost contacts the posterior articular cartilage to a smaller, flattened ribbon-like shape that moves away from the edge of the articular cartilage. It is bounded anteriorly by the lateral intercondylar ridge. These findings should be considered to avoid employing reconstruction techniques in which femoral tunnels with oval or rectangular shapes are used in patients under 50 years of age because they do not correspond to the morphology of the femoral insertion of the ACL in this age group.
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