Morphological Study of the Transverse Ligament of Knee Joint in Embalmed Cadavers

Background. The aim was to study the morphological pattern and dimensions of the transverse genicular ligament (TL) in adult embalmed knee joints.Methods. The present study utilized 50 adult embalmed human cadaveric knee joints.Results. The TL was observed in 90% of the specimens of this study. It was extend-ing from the medial meniscus (MM) anterior horn to the lateral meniscus (LM) ante-rior margin in 82% of cases. In 4% cases, the TL was attaching between the anterior margins of the MM and LM. In one specimen (2%), the TL was implanting into the anterior horn of MM and the capsule of the knee joint laterally. The double lateral attachment of the TL was observed in 2% of the cases. The length, width and thick-ness of the TL were 30.38 +/- 2.38 mm, 29.23 +/- 3.7 mm, 2.8 +/- 0.79 mm, 2.56 +/- 0.68 mm, 1.94 +/- 0.53 and 2.25 +/- 0.56 mm over the right and left sides, respectively. The distance of the TL from the anterior cruciate ligament was 2.4 +/- 1.2 mm and 2.24 +/- 1.12 mm, and its distance from the tibial tuberosity was 40.24 +/- 1.94 mm and 39.11 +/- 1.94 mm at the right and left sides respectively.Conclusions. This anatomical investigation has offered extra details about the attach-ment patterns and dimensions of TL. These details are essential to the arthroscop-ic surgeons during the reconstruction procedures of the cruciate ligaments of the knee joint.