KUMJ | VOL. 23 | NO. 4 | ISSUE 92 | OCTOBER-DECEMBER

The Deep Lateral Femoral Notch Sign: an Indirect Sign of a Torn Anterior Cruciate Ligament
Laudari SK, Shrestha R, Poudel S, Das A

Abstract:
Background The presence of a deep lateral notch has been described as an indirect sign of a tear of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) on conventional radiographs. The aim of this study is to identify notches of the Lateral femoral condyle (LFC) in patients with tears of anterior cruciate ligament in plain X-ray so as to evaluate lateral femoral notch sign as an indirect sign of anterior cruciate ligament deficiency. Objective To assess deep lateral femoral notch sign in X-ray as an indirect sign of anterior cruciate ligament tear. Method Quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted among the patients with anterior cruciate ligament injuries scheduled for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction at Department of Orthopedics at Dhulikhel Hospital and had anterior cruciate ligament injuries diagnosed by clinical and MRI and had undergone arthroscopic anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. The lateral radiograph of knee was evaluated and measurements were carried out with depth and length of the impression on the anterior cruciate ligament and were measured in millimeters (mm). A depth of more than two millimeters was considered as positive lateral femoral notch sign. Result Ninety-five patients (92.2%) diagnosed as anterior cruciate ligament tear showed lateral femoral notch sign and among them 23% of patient had positive deep lateral femoral notch sign. Conclusion This study suggests that a simple lateral knee radiograph is helpful to identify the anterior cruciate ligament injury in traumatic knee injury patients among the twenty three percentage of the cases.
Keyword : Anterior cruciate ligament injury, Lateral femoral notch sign, Positive lateral femoral notch sign, Sports injury