THE ANTERIOR HORN OF THE MEDIAL MENISCUS - AN ANATOMIC STUDY OF ITS INSERTION

A morphologic study of 48 cadaveric knees was performed to more accura tely define the osseous and soft tissue anatomy of the insertion of th e anterior horn of the medial meniscus, Soft tissue relationships of t he anterior horn of the medial meniscus to the anterior cruciate ligam ent and the lateral meniscus were examined. Four tibial insertion loca tions of the medial meniscus were identifiable by bony landmarks. Type insertions were located in the flat intercondylar region of the tibia l plateau; type II occurred on the downward slope from the medial arti cular plateau to the intercondylar region; type III occurred on the an terior slope of the tibial plateau; there was no firm bony insertion o f the anterior horn in type IV. The occurrence for type I was 59% (20 of 34); type II, 24% (8 of 34); type III, 15% (5 of 34); and type IV, 3% (1 of 34), The variance in insertion patterns may have clinical app lications for patients with atypical anterior knee pain and for perfor ming meniscal allograft, Type III and type IV insertions may be unable to resist peripheral extrusion of the loaded meniscus, placing it at risk for anterior subluxation and causing anterior knee pain in specif ic cases. Awareness of these patterns may be valuable in medial menisc us harvest and transplantation.