THE SEMIMEMBRANOSUS-TIBIAL COLLATERAL LIGAMENT BURSA - ANATOMICAL STUDY AND MAGNETIC-RESONANCE-IMAGING

A bursa that was deep to the tibial collateral ligament and adjacent t o the semimembranosus tendon was studied in fifty cadaveric knees; a v inyl solution was injected into four of the specimens in order to faci litate a study of the relationship between the bursa and its surroundi ng structures. The bursa had the shape of an inverted U: the superfici al arm was an elliptical pocket that was located between the semimembr anosus tendon and the tibial collateral ligament, and the deep arm was a triangular pocket that was located between the semimembranosus tend on and the medial tibial condyle. The bursa measured, on the average, twenty-one millimeters in its greatest anteroposterior dimension and t en millimeters in its greatest superoinferior dimension. Magnetic reso nance images were made of two patients, and they showed fluid in the b ursa.