The Influence of the Femoral Condyle Sagittal Curvature on ACL Rupture

Abstract Purpose: The femoral condyle diameter may influence anterior tibial translation whose main stabilizer is the ACL. The aim of this study is to determine the influence of the size of the lateral and medial femoral condyles on ACL rupture. Methods: 41 matched pairs of subjects were included in the study who had suffered knee injury and were either professional or recreational athletes engaged in track and field or sports involving intensive rotation movements. The experimental group was composed of patients with ACL rupture, while the control group comprised patients with joint distortion without ACL. The diameter of the medial and lateral condyles were measured on sagittal MRI images of these patients’ knees. Results: Subjects with ACL rupture had a highly statistically significantly shorter diameter of the lateral condyle as compared to their matched pairs from the control group (p<0.01). Also, the lateral condyle of the subjects with ACL rupture had a significantly lesser diameter as compared to the medial condyle (p<0.01), which was not the case in patients without ACL rupture (p>0.05). Patients with intact ACL demonstrated significant indirect correlation of the diameter of both femoral condyles with the valgus angle of the lower leg (p<0.01). Conclusions: The shorter diameter of the lateral femoral condyle is connected with ACL rupture, both in women and men. The lack of correlation between the diameter of the femoral condyles and the valgus angle of the lower leg also represents a factor connected to ACL rupture.