ISOLATED GANGLIONS OF THE ANTERIOR CRUCIATE LIGAMENT

We report three athletes with symptomatic isolated ganglion of the ant erior cruciate ligament. The symptoms consisted of anteromedial knee p ain, worse when changing direction while running, and on squatting. Al l gave a history of repeated minor knee trauma without a single episod e of serious injury. At day-case arthroscopy, a unilobulated cystic ma ss arising from a clinically and arthroscopically intact anterior cruc iate ligament was noted and removed in each case. No further intra- or extra-articular knee lesion was seen. Histology revealed a cystic gan glion in each case. With early physiotherapy, the patients could start gentle training 3 wk after arthroscopy, and, at 6-month review, were fully asymptomatic. A review of the literature shows that an isolated ganglion arising from the anterior cruciate ligament is exceedingly ra re, with only three such ganglia having been previously reported.