The Protective Effect Of The Slope Of Medial And Lateral Meniscus Posterior Horn On The Anterior Cruciate Ligament In Individuals With Increased Posterior Tibial Slope

Objective:Anterior cruciate ligament(ACL)injury is a common injury in knee movement.The damage risk is affected by many factors.Increased posterior tibial slope(PTS)is considered as a risk factor for ACL injury and failure of ACL reconstruction.The posterior horn of the medial and lateral meniscus can limit the excessive forward movement of the tibia during the movement of the knee joint and reduce the stress on the ACL.Among them,the slope of meniscus posterior horn(SMPH)played a significant protective role for ACL.The protective effect of the slope of medial and lateral meniscus posterior horn on anterior cruciate ligament was studied in individuals with increased posterior tibial slope.Methods:Outpatient and inpatient patients with lateral knee X-ray and knee MRI images from the Second Hospital of Shanxi Medical University from January 2017 to July 2022 were collected.Patients with PTS ≥ 12°were screened by lateral knee X-ray and divided into two groups according to whether they had ACL injury.There were 99 patients with ACL injury and 75 patients with ACL integrity.All the patients included above had only unilateral knee imaging data,and no bilateral patients were included.Two groups of the slope of medial meniscus posterior horn(SMMPH)and the slope of lateral meniscus posterior horn,(SLMPH)were measured on MRI sagittal imaging.Then,the SLMPH and SMMPH were compared between the intact ACL group and the ACL injury group.To investigate whether the posterior horn of the medial and lateral meniscus protects the anterior cruciate ligament in individuals with increased PTS.Results:The SLMPH and SMMPH were compared between the group with simple ACL injury and the group with intact ACL.The results showed that the SLMPH and SMMPH of the knee with intact ACL were higher than those of the knee with ACL injury.Conclusion:In this study,the SLMPH and SMMPH of patients with PTS≥12°in the injured ACL group were lower than those in the intact ACL group.This suggests that although patients with enlarged PTS are more likely to suffer ACL injury,the steeper medial and lateral meniscus posterior horn in these patients still has an important protective effect on the ACL.It provides a theoretical basis for improving the survival rate of ACL graft.