MRI appearances of the injured anterolateral ligament of the knee on MRI and associations among the appearances

SUN He; SUN Lingling; WANG Fengzhe; PAN Shinong; HU Tianxiang; LI Qi; WANG Lei

doi:10.19300/j.2017.L5134zt

Abstract：Objective To investigate the MR imaging features of patients with anterolateral ligament injury caused by trauma, and to analyze its associations with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear, lateral meniscus tear, and lat-eral bone contusion, so as to provide reliable information of knee stability supported by anterolateral ligament. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the MR imaging of 320 patients with 321 knees trauma from January 2016 to February 2017. The MRI examinations were all performed on GE Company Signa HDe 1.5 T MR. Imaging protocol included oblique sagit-tal T1-weighted sequence, and coronal, axial, and sagittal proton density weighted sequences. All injuries were categorized according to the integrity and site of the injured anterolateral ligament. The correlation among the anterolateral ligament tear, anterior cruciate ligament tear, lateral meniscus tear, and bone contusion was analyzed with chi-square test. Results All anterior cruciate ligament can be demonstrated in examinations (100%). There were 151 of 321 (47%, 95%CI:41.6%-52.5%) knees showed signs of anterolateral ligament injury. Among the cases with injury, ninty-seven knees showed femoral portion lesions, ninty-six knees showed tibial lesions, and 65 knees showed meniscal portion lesions. Abnormality was detected in ACL in 158 knees, in the lateral meniscus in 98 knees, in lateral femoral condyle in 58 knees, and in later-al tibial plateau contusion in 71 knees, which were statistically associated with anteriorlateral ligament injury (P<0.001). Conclusions MRI examination can be a good choice for displaying anteriorlateral ligament tears. Anteriorlateral ligament injury significantly associates with ACL tear, lateral meniscus tear, and lateral bone contusion.