The aim of this study was to compare in-vitro measurements of anteroposterior laxity in the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL)-deficient knee using three different methods: an Instron materials-testing machine, then a KT-2000 arthrometer, and finally by Roentgen stereophotogrammetric analysis (RSA). Eight ACL-deficient human cadaver knees were used. Total displacement was measured between 90 N anterior and 90 N posterior tibiofemoral drawer forces at both 20° and 90° knee flexion. Laxity ranged from 11.5 to 27.6 mm at 20° and from 8.7 to 23.9 mm at 90°. A statistically significant difference was not found between the mean RSA and KT-2000 measurements. However, the mean Instron measurements of laxity were significantly (3-4 mm) higher than both RSA and KT-2000 measurements. The clinical methods of RSA and the KT-2000 measurements agreed well but appeared to underestimate tibiofemoral anteroposterior laxity compared with the materials-testing machine. These findings may be helpful in the future comparison of different studies.
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