Further studies on cruciate and collateral knee ligaments en adult broiler fowls.

In order to determine whether degenerative changes in knee ligaments precede or follow their rupture, the knee joints of 55 adult male broiler breeding fowls have been studied. All birds were between 60 and 62 weeks old when examined. Dissections at autopsy revealed whether collateral or cruciate ligaments were deranged, but only intact ligaments were processed for histo-pathological examination. Degenerative lesions were observed in intact ligaments at sites corresponding to regions where rupture normally occurs. These sites differ for medial collateral and cruciate ligaments. There was an increased frequency, with perhaps increased severity, of lesions in ligaments of unstable joints. Severe degenerative changes also occurred in one ligament of a joint where all other ligaments were intact. Degenerative changes and thus rupture of knee ligaments are thought to be a consequence of repetitive trauma with joint instability accentuating such trauma.