Anatomy of the anterolateral ligament of the knee joint

Table 1 Summary of recent anatomical cadaveric studies of the anterolateral ligament

Ref.	Year	Preservation method	Prevalence of the ALL	Femoral origin	Tibial origin	Length of the ALL
Vincent et al[13]	2012	Fresh-frozen cadaver	100%	Anterior to the popliteus tendon insertion	Posterior to GT	34.1 ± 3.4 mm
Claes et al[3]	2013	Embalmed cadaver	100%	Anterior to LCL	Between GT and FH	38.5 ± 6.1 mm (0°)
						41.5 ± 6.7 (90°)
Helito et al[24]	2013	Fresh-frozen cadaver	100%	Anterior and distal to LCL	Between GT and FH	37.3 ± 4.0 mm
Dodds et al[23]	2014	Fresh-frozen cadaver	83%	Proximal and posterior to LFE	Between GT and FH	59.0 ± 4.0 mm
						Tightened at internal rotation and flexion
Caterine et al[16]	2015	Fresh-frozen cadaver	100%	Proximal and posterior to LCL	Between GT and FH	40.3 ± 6.2 mm (0°)
Kennedy et al[26]	2015	Fresh-frozen cadaver	100%	Proximal and posterior to LFE	Between GT and FH	36.8 mm (0°)
						41.6 mm (90°)
Watanabe et al[20]	2016	Embalmed cadaver	37%	Type I (ALL)	Between GT and FH (Type II-b, lateral aspect of tibial plateau)	N/A
				Overlapped LCL origin
				Posterior to LCL origin
				Anterior to LCL origin
				Type II (ALLT)
				Anterior to posterior of LCL origin
Stijak et al[29]	2016	Embalmed cadaver	50%	Anterior to LCL	Between GT and FH	41.0 ± 3.0 mm
Daggett et al[27]	2016	Fresh-frozen cadaver	100%	Center of LFE, proximal and posterior to LFE	Between GT and FH	N/A
Neri et al[28]	2017	Fresh-frozen cadaver	95%	Proximal and posterior to LFE	Posterior and proximal to GT, anterior and proximal to FH, and distal to ACT	50.4 ± 6.6 mm
Goncharov et al[25]	2018	Fresh-frozen cadaver	68% women	65% proximal and posterior to LFE	Between GT and FH	38.5 ± 4.4 mm
			42% men	24% anterior to the origin of the LCL		Tightened in internal rotation and flexion
				12% popliteus tendon insertion
Olewnik et al[19]	2018	Embalmed cadaver	64%	Type I, proximal and anterior to LCL	Type I, II-a, II-b, posterior to GT	35.5 ± 7.3 mm
				Type II-a, proximal and posterior to LCL	Type III, blends with deep fascia
				Type II-b, proximal and posterior to LCL	Type IV, posterior to GT and deep fascia
				Type IV, LFE and anterior to LCL	Type V, posterior to GT
				Type V, LCL
Lima et al[21]	2019	Fresh-frozen cadaver	100%	Proximal and posterior to LFE	Between GT and FH (4.0 mm to 7.0 mm below the tibial plateau)	40.0 ± 0.4 mm
Nasu et al[8]	2020	Embalmed cadaver	0% (Complex of fibrous tissues with a sheet-like structure)	Proximal and posterior to LFE	Lateroposterior area to the GT	N/A
Shetty et al[30]	2021	Embalmed cadaver	9% (Two types, membranous wideband and cord-like ALL)	Anterior to LCL, proximal to LFE	GT	35 ± 0.9 mm
Patel et al[15]	2021	Fresh-frozen cadaver	12%	Proximal and posterior to LFE	Between GT and FH	N/A

ACT: Articular cartilage of the tibia; ALL: Anterolateral ligament; FH: Fibular head; GT: Gerdy’s tubercle; LCL: Lateral collateral ligament; LFE: Lateral femoral epicondyle; N/A: Not applicable.