Histological analysis of the anterolateral ligament of the knee

Luigi Sabatini; Salvatore Risitano; Francesco Atzori; Marco Volante; Alessandro Aprato; Pier Francesco Indelli; Alessandro Massè

doi:10.1016/j.jor.2019.03.019

Histological analysis of the anterolateral ligament of the knee

J Orthop. 2019 Apr 8;16(5):368-372. doi: 10.1016/j.jor.2019.03.019. eCollection 2019 Sep-Oct.

Authors

Luigi Sabatini¹, Salvatore Risitano², Francesco Atzori³, Marco Volante⁴, Alessandro Aprato¹, Pier Francesco Indelli⁵, Alessandro Massè¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology, University of Turin, "Città della salute e della scienza"-CTO Hospital of Turin, Turin, ITA, Italy.
² Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology, "Maggiore" Hospital of Chieri. Chieri, Turin, ITA, Italy.
³ Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Cottolengo Hospital, Turin, Italy.
⁴ Pathologist Department, "San Luigi Gonzaga" Hospital Orbassano, Turin, ITA, Italy.
⁵ Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Bioengineering, Stanford University School of Medicine and the Palo Alto Veterans Affairs Health Care System(PAVAHCS), Palo Alto, CA, USA.

Abstract

Anterolateral ligament (ALL) was recently described as an important structure to control the pivot-shift phenomenon in the knee. Doubts remain regarding its origin and histological properties. The purpose of this study was to identify the ALL histological structure comparing its characteristics with those of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and joint capsule. ALL was harvested in 25 knees during a total knee arthroplasty (TKA) and histologically evaluated investigating for orientation of fibers, adipose tissue, presence of proprioceptors and synovial like coating. Analysis showed significant differences in several aspects between capsule and ALL; analogies were found comparing the ALL with ACL.

Keywords: ALL; ALL histology; Anterior cruciate ligament; Anterolateral ligament; Knee; Knee joint capsule.