title: The excursion length of posterior cruciate ligament during range of motion in prosthetic knee.
abstract: Restriction of knee motion after total knee replacement was noted to be associated with lengthening of the posterior cruciate ligament during flexion of the knee which was replaced with a cruciate retaining knee prosthesis. The purpose of this study was to measure the excursion length of the PCL in the normal knee in four different cruciate-retaining knee prostheses, and in five cadaveric knees which were replaced with the Tricon prosthesis. For every knee, the tibial part was fixed on a stand and the femoral part was allowed to do flexion-extension motion upon the tibial plateau. The angle of the motion was monitored by the self-readout goniometer. A thin wire cord was attached to the proposed origin site of the PCL on the femur. The wire cord was passed through a tiny hook which was attached to the proposed insertion site of the PCL on the tibia and connected to a dial gauge. The excursion length of the PCL during 90 degrees flexion was measured. The same measurement was repeated five times in each cadaver knee and prosthetic knee studied, and in five knee specimens which were replaced with the Tricon prosthesis. The excursion length of the PCL during 0 degrees to 90 degrees of flexion in five cadaver knees averaged 0.08cm of lengthening. Three different origin sites of the ligament were designated to represent the anterior, middle and posterior part of the ligament.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, R.O.C.
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: C S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: C Y
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Wen
authors.forename: T K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002102:Cadaver; D006801:Humans; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000502:physiology*; D007720:Knee Prosthesis; D008022:Ligaments / Q000502:physiology*; D009068:Movement; D012016:Reference Values