Femoral tunnel and lateral femoral condyle measurements in anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction

Anterior Cruciate Ligament footprint size is normally correlated with the height and area of the lateral wall of femoral inter condylar notch. Pre-operative anthropometric parameters are also helpful in predicting length and thickness of quadrupled hamstring graft for reconstruction in adults. In our study, aim was to determine the average length of a femoral tunnel along with lateral femoral condyle measurement and to correlate this with patient gender, height and Body Mass Index. Also, another aim was to measure the value of some anthropometric measurements to predict the length of hamstring graft diameter before surgery. A total of 91 patients were analysed during the study period. The length of Femoral Tunnel varied from 29 mm to 41 mm (Range 12 mm). The mean length is 35.08 mm, with a Standard Deviation of 2.557 mm. This is a low standard deviation which implies that the length of femoral tunnel would generally be close to the mean value of 40.08 mm. The Lateral Femoral Condyle measurements vary from 35 mm to 67 mm (Range 32 mm). The mean value is 43.22 mm with a Standard Deviation of 4.002 mm. The Hamstring graft diameter varies from 6 mm to 10 mm (Range 5 mm). The mean is 7.86 mm with a Standard Deviation of 0.811 mm. This is a very low standard deviation indicating that the in most cases the Hamstring Graft Diameter is likely to be close to the mean value of 7.86 mm.