Association of meniscal tears with cruciate ligament injuries

Abstract

Aim: To find the association of meniscal tears with isolated and combined cruciate ligament injuries, grades of injury, time of injury and type of injury. Method: Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of 240 patients with knee pain who diagnosed with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and Posterior Cruciate Ligament (PCL) injury by arthroscopy were studied. Results: Road and traffic accidents (RTA) caused in 80.4% of cases. A total of 192 patients (80%) with isolated ACL involvement, seven patients (2.9%) with isolated PCL involvement, and 41 patients (17%) with combined ACL and PCL involvement. In cases with ACL involvement (n=192), 17 patients (8.8%) had grade 1 injury: sprain, 82 patients (42.7%) had grade 2/3 injury: partial tear and 93 patients (48.4%) had grade 4 injury: complete tear. Among partial ACL tear, lateral meniscus involvement was predominant in 45 patients (54.8%), whereas medial meniscus was involved in 26 patients (31.7%) and normal meniscus was observed in 19 patients (23.1%). In lateral meniscus, the anterior horn was majorly involved 36 patients (80%) as compared to posterior horn in 15 patients (33.3%). Conclusion: The present study indicates that the anterior horn of the lateral meniscus was predominantly involved in patients with isolated ACL and combined injury of ACL and PCL. The posterior horn of the medial meniscus was more commonly involved in chronic injury of ACL, whereas the posterior horn of the lateral meniscus was involved in acute ACL injury. Early ACL reconstruction is recommended for the prevention of secondary meniscal tears.