radiological comparison of meniscofemoral ligaments in patients with intact and ruptured anterior cruciate ligament

Background: evaluating concomitant injury in patients with anterior cruciate ligament (acl) rupture is important for predicting long-term results. meniscofemoral ligament (mfl) rupture has been observed in patients with anterior cruciate ligament rupture in arthroscopic evaluation for ruptured acl. objectives: the objective of this study was to investigate the concomitant meniscofemoral ligaments injury in patients with anterior cruciate ligament ruptures via magnetic resonance imaging (mri). methods: a total of 200 patients (with ruptured acl, n = 100; with intact acl, n = 100) were retrospectively evaluated via mri. in the group with ruptured acl; the patients who were diagnosed as having noncontact acl injuries and had undergone primary acl reconstructions were included. the control group included 100 patients with suspected acl rupture (from a similar injury mechanism) and whose mri revealed an intact acl. in the group with ruptured acl, the time from injury to mri was evaluated. a comparison of the presence of anterior mfl (amfl) and posterior mfl (pmfl) between the two groups was evaluated. results: in the acl ruptured group, a significantly lower presence of amfl or pmfl was observed compared to the control group (p = 0.001). the time from injury to mri was significantly higher in the patients with absent mfl defined in mri relative to the other groups (p = 0.001). conclusions:we observed absence of mfls (amfl and pmfl) in a significant majority of patients with ruptured acls. furthermore, we found a significant relationship between the time from injury to mri and absence of mfl in the ruptured acl group.