Anthropometric Measurements of Patella and Distal Femur among Iranian Osteoarthritis Patients during Total Knee Arthroplasty

Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is an effective treatment for pain relief and functional recovery in patients suffering from severe osteoarthritis. Despite advances in TKA, patients are not yet comfortable with results. Prosthesis design plays a major role in TKA outcome. Most TKA prostheses are designed based on the anthropometric features of the Caucasian population. Studies have identified ethnic differences in the anatomy of the distal femur and patella. We aimed to measure anthropometric features of patella and distal femur intraoperatively.

Femoral mediolateral (ML) width, femoral medial and lateral condyle anteroposterior height (mAP and lAP), patellar height, patellar width and patellar maximum thickness were measured intraoperatively in 47 Iranian patients. The femoral aspect ratio (ML/lAP×100) was also calculated.

In women, the mean (SD) patellar height, width and thickness were 34.19 (3.33) mm, 42.92 (3.93) mm, 22.75 (2.00) mm, respectively. The mean (SD) ML, mAP, Lap, and aspect ratio were 78.07 (5.97) mm, 60.75 (4.37) mm, 62.09 (4.02) mm, 125.58 (10.43) percent, subsequently. On average, the lateral condyle was larger than the medial in women. We also found that mAP correlated with lAP strongly.

We have presented accurate and reliable measurements of anthropometric features of the knee among the Iranian female population. It can be concluded that anthropometric features of the knee among the Iranian women are similar to the Caucasian and European populations but it is higher than the Chinese populations.