Ageing Effects on Menisco-Femoral Ligament

The menisco-femoral ligament is one of the most important accessory ligament of the knee joint having both functional and clinical importance. This ligament acts in synergy with the cruciate ligament. In the case of rupture of posterior cruciate ligament, function is performed by posterior menisco-femoral ligament. It is important to have the knowledge of this ligament in arthroscopic surgeries. On MRI examination this ligament can be mistaken for osteochondral and meniscal fragment. Present study was aimed to study the morphometry of this ligament. The study was conducted on 50 human cadaveric knee joints in which the length and the midpoint thickness of this ligament were measured using Vernier caliper with accuracy of 0.01mm in two age groups. The length and thickness of this ligament was found to be greater in the younger age group in comparison to the older age group with statistical significance (p less than 0.05). So it could be concluded that the length and thickness of this ligament decreased with the increasing age. This indicates that the posterior menisco-femoral ligament is a regressive structure which degenerates with the increasing age.