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Updated: Jun 30, 2026

Arthroscopic Excision of Posterior Cruciate Ligament Cysts Using a Double Posteromedial Approach
Published on: October 20, 2023
MRI appearance of posterior cruciate ligament tears
William Rodriguez1, Emily N Vinson, Clyde A Helms
1Department of Radiology, Duke University Medical Center, Box 3808, Durham, NC 27710, USA.
Objective:
There is little in the radiology literature regarding the MRI appearance of a torn posterior cruciate ligament (PCL). The purpose of this study was to describe the MRI appearance of surgically proven PCL tears and to emphasize previously unreported signs.
Conclusion:
The PCL is usually injured as the result of stretching deformation; on MRI, the ligament maintains continuity as a single structure with apparent thickening. On sagittal T2-weighted images, an anteroposterior diameter of 7 mm or more is highly suggestive of a torn PCL. Increased intrasubstance signal intensity in the PCL on proton-density images with lower signal intensity on T2-weighted images is another common feature.
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