MUCOID DEGENERATION OF THE ANTERIOR CRUCIATE LIGAMENT: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Background:The cases of mucoid degeneration initially described in the 1950s mainly concerned the cardiovascular system. In 1976 Ewing et al (24) reported the first case of mucoid degeneration of striated muscle in the limbs. In 1999 Kumar et al (2) described the first case of mucoid degeneration of the anterior cruciate ligament of the knee Aims: to study the clinical and radiographic semiology of this pathology and the possible therapeutical alternatives. Patients/Methods: Retrospective studies with a case series. The number of cases in each study is greater than or equal to 10 cases.And alldiagnosis of mucoid degeneration of the anterior cruciate ligament is authenticated by magnetic resonance imaging of the knee with Location of the lesion in the anterior cruciate ligament. Results: Our search strategy yielded 42 articles. The abstracts were reviewed to identify articles appropriate for our study resulting in the identification of 18 articles. Ten studies were excluded because they had a limited number of cases (9 articles about one case and 1 article about 5 cases). Another article (17) was also excluded because it included a comparative study with control groups of patients with normal MRI and arthroscopy. Seven articles meeting the inclusion criteria were retained for the final analysis. Conclusions: Mucoid degeneration of the anterior cruciate ligament of the knee is often misunderstood and confused with a partial rupture of the ACL. Its diagnosis must be suspected in front of a stereotyped clinical picture of unusual posterior knee pain and a limitation of flexion. The symptomatology sometimes takes atypical forms because of the frequently associated meniscal and cartilage lesions.