PURPOSE To further the current understanding of the modifications of the morphology of the ACL tibial footprint in healthy knees during the ageing process. The hypothesis is that there are differences in the morphology of the ACL tibial footprint between the cadavers of the young and elderly due to a degenerative physiological process that occurs over time. METHODS The tibial footprint of the ACL was dissected in 64 knee specimens of known gender and age. They were divided into four groups by age and gender, setting 50 years of age as the cut-off point. Three observers analyzed the tibial footprint dissections and the shape was described and classified. RESULTS The knees from the cadavers of males older than 50 years of age presented a "C" morphology in 85% of the cases. In the group of males aged less than 50 years, an oval/elliptical morphology was found in 85.7% of the cases. In the group of women over 50 years-old, the "C" morphology was observed in 82.3% of the cases. In women under the age of 50, the oval/elliptical morphology was found in 84.6% of the cases. A significant difference was observed between the prevalence rates of the morphologies of the younger and older groups (p < 0.001 for both genders). However, no differences were observed between males and females of the same age group (n.s.). CONCLUSIONS The morphology of the tibial footprint of the ACL presents significant variations with ageing. It can go from an oval/elliptical shape to a "C" shaped morphology. The results of this work make for an advance in the individualization of ACL reconstruction based on the age and the specific morphology of the tibial footprint.

中文翻译：

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前交叉韧带的胫骨足迹的形态随着年龄的增长而从椭圆形/椭圆形变为C形。

目的进一步了解健康膝盖在衰老过程中ACL胫骨足迹的形态变化。假设是，随着时间的流逝发生退化的生理过程，年轻人和老年人的尸体之间ACL胫骨足迹的形态存在差异。方法在64个已知性别和年龄的膝关节标本中解剖ACL的胫骨足迹。他们按年龄和性别分为四类，以50岁为起点。三名观察者分析了胫骨足迹解剖，并对形状进行了描述和分类。结果在85％的病例中，年龄超过50岁的男性尸体的膝盖呈“ C”形。在年龄小于50岁的男性人群中，在85.7％的病例中发现卵圆形/椭圆形。在50岁以上的女性人群中，在82.3％的病例中观察到“ C”形。在50岁以下的女性中，有84.6％的患者发现卵形/椭圆形。青年组和老年人组的形态患病率之间存在显着差异（男女均p <0.001）。但是，在同一年龄组的男性和女性之间均未观察到差异（ns）。结论ACL的胫骨足迹形态随年龄的增长存在显着变化。它可以从卵形/椭圆形变为“ C”形形态。这项工作的结果为根据年龄和胫骨足迹的具体形态在ACL重建个体化方面取得了进展。