Objectives: To evaluate clinically and radiologically the elbows of spinal cord injured patients and compare them to the control group. Methods: Twenty patients (10 paraplegics and 10 tetraplegics) were clinically evaluated through assessment of pain scale, measurement of active and passive range of motion, degree of muscle strength and MEPS score. They were also submitted to bilateral plain radiography of the elbows. Both groups were compared to the control group. Results: Four paraplegic and three tetraplegic patients referred mild to moderate, sporadic and motion related pain. The control group was asymptomatic. No statistic significant difference was found in passive range of motion among the three groups. The tetraplegic group showed a lower active range of motion as well as lower MEPS score as compared to the control group. Equal number of patients in the spinal cord injured patients had radiological abnormalities, but those were more severe in the tetraplegic group. Conclusion: Spinal cord injured patients presented clinical and radiological elbow abnormalities, which were more evident on tetraplegics. Level of Evidence III, Case Control.
Objective
To provide anatomical and morphometric basis of the posterior cruciate ligament's tibial insertions in order to assist the creation of anatomical tibial tunnels, in the ligament surgical reconstruction.
Material and methods
The topographic anatomy and morphometry of the posterior cruciate ligament's anterolateral and posteromedial bundles’ tibial insertions were analyzed in 24 anatomical knee pieces. The pieces were photographed by a digital camera and the images obtained were studied by the software ImageJ, where the bundles’ insertion areas were measured in square millimeters, and the length of structures and the distances between significant points were measured in millimeters.
Results
In 54.2% of the knees the insertion’ shape was concave; in most pieces (41.6%) the form of insertion was oval. The average posterior cruciate ligament's tibial insertion total area was 88.33 ± 21.66 mm
2
; the average anterolateral bundle's tibial insertion area was 46.79 ± 14.10 mm
2
and it was 41.54 ± 9.75 mm
2
for the posteromedial bundle.
Conclusions
The anterolateral bundle has a tibial insertion area larger than the posteromedial bundle; the insertion areas of those bundles in our study, were smaller than the ones found in the literature. The variations in the posterior cruciate ligament's tibial insertion area suggest that there should be an indication for anatomical reconstructions of this ligament using single or double tibial tunnels according to individual characteristics.
Agradeço, primeiramente, a Deus por me dar condições de chegar até aqui e desenvolver este estudo. Ao meu orientador que acreditou na ideia e disponibilizou tempo e conhecimento para a realização desse trabalho. Aos ortopedistas residentes que se interessaram e muito auxiliaram em todas as etapas. Por fim, meu sincero agradecimento a todos os pacientes que aceitaram participar do trabalho, apesar de algumas dificuldades. Pacientes que nos despertaram o interesse pelo estudo e que nos deixaram muitos ensinamentos ao longo dessa jornada.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.