Clinical anatomy of the tendon of quadriceps femoris

Objective To provide anatomy data of the tendon of quadriceps femoris for reconstructing cruciate ligament of knee joint.Methods On 10 adult cadavaric lower limb specimens(20 knee joints),anatomic features of the patellar insertion of quadriceps femoris tendon were investigated.The length and width of the tendon of rmusculus rectus and the thickness of upper patellar pole were measured respectively.Results The patellar insertion width of rectus femoris was about(3.20±0.33)cm,and the original width(1.28±0.25)cm.The length of tendon tissue was(6.96±0.80)cm.The proximal four-fifths of rectus femoris was fully discrete,but the one-fifths of distal end fused with vastus lateralis and vastus intermedius,and formed the quadriceps femoris tendon,which inserted to the three-fourths upper pole anterior aspect of the patella.The average thickness of the upper pole of patella was(2.22±0.14) cm.Conclusions Given of the anatomic features of quadriceps femoris tendon,it is suitable for reconstructing the cruciate ligament of knee joint using this tendon.