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Updated: Oct 8, 2026
Athymic Rat Model for Evaluation of Engineered Anterior Cruciate Ligament Grafts
Published on: March 26, 2015
MRI of anterior cruciate ligament repair with patellar and hamstring tendon autografts
K A Jansson1, P T Karjalainen, A Harilainen
1Department of Radiology, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Finland.
Objective:
Several MRI sequences were used to evaluate the 2-year postoperative appearance of asymptomatic knee with a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstructed with bone-patellar tendon-bone (BTB) and semitendinosus and gracilis (STG) tendon autografts.
Design And Patients:
Two groups with successful repair of ACL tear with BTB (n = 10) or STG (n = 10) autografts were imaged at 1.5 T with sagittal and oblique coronal proton density-, T2-weighted and sagittal STIR sequences and plain and contrast-enhanced oblique coronal T1-weighted sequences. The appearance of the graft and periligamentous tissues was evaluated.
Results:
In all 20 cases, the ACL graft showed homogeneous, low signal intensity with periligamentous streaks of intermediate signal intensity on T2-weighted images. In 10 cases, localised areas of intermediate signal intensity were seen in the intra-articular segment of the graft on proton density- and T1-weighted images. The graft itself did not show enhancement in either of the two groups, but mild to moderate periligamentous enhancement was detected in 10 cases.
Conclusion:
The MRI appearance of ACL autograft is variable on proton density- and T -weighted images. Periligamentous tissue showing contrast enhancement is a typical MRI finding after clinically successful ACL reconstruction.
