Intercondylar notch width and its relation to the configuration and cross-sectional area of the anterior cruciate ligament. A cadaveric knee study.

If a narrow intercondylar notch contains a smaller anterior cruciate ligament, that may explain why people with narrow notches have a higher incidence of anterior cruciate ligament injuries. To investigate the significance of notch width measurement, we used 16 embalmed cadaveric knees. A positive mold of the entire anterior cruciate ligament, including its femoral and tibial insertions, was created with silicone rubber and plaster commonly used for dental molding. We had two hypotheses to test from this study. One was that the dimensions of the anterior cruciate ligament can be predicted by the notch width. The other was that the size of a person's anterior cruciate ligament can be predicted by a caliper measurement of the intercondylar notch. The width, sagittal length, and cross-sectional area of the midsubstance and the femoral and tibial insertions of the anterior cruciate ligament were measured. The notch width index, the ratio of notch width to width of the femoral condyle, showed a positive correlation only to the ratio of width to sagittal length of the tibial insertion. None of the parameters showed any differences between the knees with a notch width index less than or equal to 0.2 and those with a notch width index greater than 0.2. The knees with small notch width indexes did not have thinner anterior cruciate ligaments in them. These findings may not be applicable to knees obtained from other races, i.e., not Japanese.