It is important to understand anatomical feature of the distal femoral condyle for treatment of osteoarthritic knees. Detailed measurement of the femoral condyle geometry, however, has not been available in osteoarthritic knees including valgus deformity. This study evaluated femoral condyle geometry in 30 normal knees, 30 osteoarthritic knees with varus deformity, and 30 osteoarthritic knees with valgus deformity using radiographs and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In radiographic analysis in the coronal plane, the femoral joint angle (lateral angle between the femoral anatomic axis and a tangent to femoral condyles) was 83.3" in the normal knees, 83.8" in the varus knees, and 80.7" in the valgus knees. In MRI analysis in the axial plane, the posterior condylar tangent showed 6.4" of internal rotation relative to the transepicondylar axis in the normal knees, 6.1 O in the varus knees, and 11.5" in the valgus knees. These results suggested that there was no hypoplasia of the medial condyle in the varus knees, but the lateral condyle in the valgus knees was severely distorted. Surgeons should take this deformity of the lateral femoral condyle into account when total knee arthroplasty is performed for a valgus knee.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.