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Gender differences in the knees of Chinese population

  • Knee
  • Published:
Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy Aims and scope

Abstract

The goal of this study was to characterize the geometry of the distal femur and proximal tibia in the Chinese population. Three-dimensional models of twenty female and twenty male knees were constructed using CT images. The morphologic measurements of the distal femur included mediolateral (ML) and anteroposterior dimension of medial and lateral condyles (MAP, LAP), femoral aspect ratio (ML/LAP), medial and lateral condylar width, intercondylar notch width, notch width index (NWI), and trochlear groove orientation. The sagittal profiles of the medial and lateral femoral condyles and tibial plateaus were also characterized. The results showed that the size of the distal femur of the females was significantly smaller than that of the males. Furthermore, when normalized by LAP, the females had a significantly narrower distal femur (ML), and a shorter MAP compared to the males. In the sagittal plane, the radius of the lateral distal circle of the femur was significantly smaller than that of the medial condyle in both genders. There were no significant gender differences in the proximal tibial geometry. The data of the present study may enable suitable modification of total knee prosthesis sizing/geometry for Asia-Pacific patients.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by an AEF grant of Department of Orthopaedics, MGH, the Program for Shanghai Key Laboratory of Orthopaedic Implant (08DZ2230330), Fund for Key Disciplines of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (J50206), and National Natural Science Foundation of China (30901517).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Orthopaedic Implant, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China

    Bing Yue, Songtao Ai & Tingting Tang

  2. Bioengineering Laboratory, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 55 Fruit St., GRJ 1215, Boston, MA, 02114, USA

    Bing Yue, Kartik M. Varadarajan, Harry E. Rubash & Guoan Li

  3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Kartik M. Varadarajan

Authors
  1. Bing Yue
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  2. Kartik M. Varadarajan
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  3. Songtao Ai
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  4. Tingting Tang
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  5. Harry E. Rubash
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  6. Guoan Li
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Correspondence to Guoan Li.

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Yue, B., Varadarajan, K.M., Ai, S. et al. Gender differences in the knees of Chinese population. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc 19, 80–88 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-010-1139-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-010-1139-8

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