ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the in vivo stability of normal and anterior cruciate ligament (ACL)-injured knee joint before and after epidural anesthesia under 134 N pre-loading and evaluate the influence of muscular tension on the knee stability.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Eight volunteers with unilateral ACL rupture and normal contralateral knee were enrolled in this study. CT (3D) images and 2 orthogonal images of the knee were captured at 0°, 30°, 60°, and 90° under 134 N pre-loading. The orthogonal images were used to recreate the in vivo knee positions at each of the targeted flexion angles by 2D/3D registration to analyze the tibial translation data.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The anterior tibia translation of both the intact and ACL-injured knees after anesthesia was significantly different from that before anesthesia at all the angles (P<0.05). The anterior tibial translation of the intact knee after anesthesia increased by 1.7 mm at 0°, 2.7 mm at 30°, 2.6 mm at 60°, and 2.3 mm at 90°, as compare to the increase of ACL-injured knee by 4.2 mm, 2.6 mm, 1.2 mm, and 1.6 mm, respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The muscular tension has evident influence on the knee stability in static loading.</p>
Subject(s)
Adult , Female , Humans , Male , Young Adult , Joint Instability , Knee Joint , Physiology , Muscle StrengthABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the diagnostic value of the dual-energy technique with dual-source computed tomography (DSCT) for anterior cruciate ligament injuries.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The clinical data of 8 patients with arthroscopic results were retrospectively reviewed. All patients underwent two- and three-dimensional imaging by multiplanar reconstruction, volume rendering, and tendon mode on DSCT. Dual-energy characteristics were compared with arthroscopic results.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Six patients who were arthroscopically diagnosed as anterior cruciate ligament injuries, all of them were also correctly diagnosed by DSCT. Two patients who were arthroscopically diagnosed as normal, one was also diagnosed as normal by DSCT and the other was misdiagnosed. The overall agreement rate was 87.5% (7/8) . Under the dual energy tendon mode, the dual energy staining of the injured anterior cruciate ligament was lower than that of the contralateral normal cruciate ligament of the patient.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The staining diminution in DSCT imaging may be a new feature that can be used to effectively diagnose anterior cruciate ligament injury.</p>