ACL Size and Notch Width Between ACLR and Healthy Individuals: A Pilot Study.

Area of Science:

• Orthopedics
• Sports Medicine
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction (ACLR) patients face a high risk of contralateral ACL injury.
• Understanding intrinsic risk factors for secondary ACL injuries is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if ACL reconstruction patients exhibit smaller ACL volume and narrower femoral notch width compared to healthy individuals, after accounting for anthropometrics.
• To identify potential intrinsic anatomical risk factors for contralateral ACL injury.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study involving 11 uninjured and 10 unilateral ACL-reconstructed female collegiate athletes.
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to measure ACL volume and femoral notch width/index.
• Statistical analysis (independent-samples t-tests) compared measurements between groups, normalizing for body size.

Main Results:

• The ACL reconstruction group demonstrated a significantly smaller notch width index (p=0.004) and ACL volume (p=0.025) when normalized by body size.
• Effect sizes indicated moderate to large differences in these measurements.

Conclusions:

• Normalized ACL size and relative femoral notch size are smaller in the contralateral limb of ACL reconstruction patients compared to healthy controls.
• Future research on ACL injury risk factors should incorporate body size adjustments for anatomical measures.
• These findings suggest a potential method for clinical screening of contralateral ACL injury risk.