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Inter-rater reliability of an ultrasound protocol to evaluate the anterolateral ligament of the knee

Michel Kandel
Michel Kandel
, 
Erik Cattrysse
Erik Cattrysse
, 
Michel De Maeseneer
Michel De Maeseneer
, 
Leon Lenchik
Leon Lenchik
, 
Marc Paantjens
Marc Paantjens
 and 
Marco Leeuw
Marco Leeuw
   | Sep 30, 2019
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Article Category: research-article
Published Online: Sep 30, 2019
Page range: 181 - 186
Received: Apr 23, 2019
Accepted: Aug 27, 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15557/jou.2019.0027
Keywords
© 2019 Michel Kandel et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Fig. 1.

Schematic drawing of the lateral side of the knee, deep to the iliotibial band. Fe, femur; Ti, tiba; Fi, fibula; P, patella; G, lateral head of gastrocnemius; BF, biceps femoris; LFC, lateral femur condyle; GT, Gerdy’s tubercle; PT, popliteus tendon; LCL, lateral collateral ligament; ALL, anterolateral ligament; LM, lateral meniscus; LIGA, lateral inferior genicular artery
Schematic drawing of the lateral side of the knee, deep to the iliotibial band. Fe, femur; Ti, tiba; Fi, fibula; P, patella; G, lateral head of gastrocnemius; BF, biceps femoris; LFC, lateral femur condyle; GT, Gerdy’s tubercle; PT, popliteus tendon; LCL, lateral collateral ligament; ALL, anterolateral ligament; LM, lateral meniscus; LIGA, lateral inferior genicular artery

Fig. 2.

Ultrasound image of the cadaveric knee showing the anterolateral ligament (arrows) attached to the tibia (Ti) running over the popliteus tendon (PT) to the femur (Fe) condyle. Schematic drawing of the structures (B): Fe, femur; Ti, tibia; LM, lateral meniscus; arrows, anterolateral ligament; LIGA, lateral inferior genicular artery; Q, measurement distance between anterolateral ligament insertion and tibia plateau
Ultrasound image of the cadaveric knee showing the anterolateral ligament (arrows) attached to the tibia (Ti) running over the popliteus tendon (PT) to the femur (Fe) condyle. Schematic drawing of the structures (B): Fe, femur; Ti, tibia; LM, lateral meniscus; arrows, anterolateral ligament; LIGA, lateral inferior genicular artery; Q, measurement distance between anterolateral ligament insertion and tibia plateau

Fig. 3.

Anatomical dissection of the lateral knee showing the anterolateral ligament (ALL), lateral femur condyle (*), lateral meniscus (LM), lateral collateral ligament (LCL) with the iliotibial band (ITB) and biceps femoris tendon (BFT) reflected
Anatomical dissection of the lateral knee showing the anterolateral ligament (ALL), lateral femur condyle (*), lateral meniscus (LM), lateral collateral ligament (LCL) with the iliotibial band (ITB) and biceps femoris tendon (BFT) reflected

Fig. 4.

The participants were placed in a lateral position with the knee on a pillow in 30° flexion. The foot was hanging over the table. The positions of the probe are indicated by the red lines
The participants were placed in a lateral position with the knee on a pillow in 30° flexion. The foot was hanging over the table. The positions of the probe are indicated by the red lines

Descriptive statistics of participants (age, height, weight, BMI) and ALL measurements (length of ALL, thickness of ALL, width of ALL, distance to tibial plateau). All measurements are given in mm. ALL – anterolateral ligament

n Lower Higher Mean SD
Age (year) 33 23 54 41.2 10.3
Height (cm) 33 164 188 179.2 8.5
Weight (kg) 33 63.3 104 84.7 13.1
BMI 33 21.5 31.1 26.3 2.9
ALL length 33 38.7 53.3 46.9 4.2
ALL thickness 33 0.52 1.24 0.94 0.16
ALL width 33 4.4 11.7 8.4 2.3
Distance to tibia plateau 33 2.2 9.2 5.7 1.8

Intraclass correlation coefficients for ALL length, thickness, width, and distance to tibia. Also shown 95% confidence interval and significance

Intraclass correlation 95% confidence interval Significance
Lower bound Upper bound
ALL length 0.799 0.643 0.894 <0.001
ALL thickness 0.346 -0.058 0.0632 0.038
ALL width 0.884 0.794 0.939 <0.001
Distance to tibia plateau 0.959 0.927 0.978 <0.001
eISSN:
2451-070X
Language:
English
Publication timeframe:
4 times per year
Journal Subjects:
Medicine, Basic Medical Science, other
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