Today’s Interesting Case: ACL Tibial Avulsion Fracture

Feb 9, 2015

Radsource radiologists are constantly communicating and sharing knowledge with each other. In our new blog series, Today’s Interesting Case, our team will post notable cases and images for discussion from time to time.

Today’s case involves an 11 year old injured while skiing. It is an example of classic MR pathology: ACL tibial avulsion fracture. While this is a less common pattern of ACL injury overall, it can happen more often in the 8-14 year age group as the bone gives away before the ligament.

ACL Tibial Avulsion Fracture

Dr. Ingrid Kjellin goes into more detail on the topic of tibial intercondylar eminence fractures in our May 2012 MRI Web Clinic post, “The intercondylar tibial eminence fracture is one of the most common knee fractures in children and is usually seen between the ages of 8 and 14 years. It is typically caused by forceful hyperextension or a direct blow upon the distal femur with the knee in flexion. The increased tension on the ACL will typically result in stretching or partial tearing of the ACL before the tibial eminence fractures. The fracture could be nondisplaced or displaced, comminuted or non-comminuted, and occasionally involves the posterior portion of the intercondylar eminence, especially in adults. There is a high incidence of injury to other structures of the knee joint such as the menisci, capsule, collateral ligaments, or articular cartilage in adults.”

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