THE POSTERIOR CRUCIATE LIGAMENT IN TOTAL KNEE ARTHROPLASTY

The purpose of this study was to answer 2 questions: Does the posterio r cruciate ligament (PCL) produce femoral rollback in a single-design, cruciate-sparing total knee arthroplasty (TKA)? Does the PCL prevent posterior tibial dis placement when it is retained after a single-desi gn, cruciate-sparing TKA? Knee kinematics and limits of motion were me asured with the knees in the following states: (1) intact knee, (2) an terior cruciate-deficient knee, (3) PCL-retaining total knee of a sing le design (TKA), (4) PCL-retaining TKA with PCL cut, and (5) PCL-subst ituting TKA. Femoral rollback was then calculated from the above data. The results showed that the PCL was able to prevent posterior transla tion and maintain femoral rollback when it was preserved during TKA. T herefore, the PCL can be functional after TKA, in a single-design, cru ciate-sparing TKA. When the PCL was cut, significant changes in knee k inematics were observed.