The association between patellofemoral alignment and osteoarthritis in magnetic resonance imaging

Abstract

Objectives Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common joint disease in the world, becoming more prevalent with increasing age, and causes a significant burden on individuals and society. So far, several factors have been identified in association with OA of the knee joint. Age is the most crucial uncontrollable risk factor for OA. There are conflicting results regarding the relationship between patellofemoral joint orientation and OA. This study aims to elucidate the relationship between patellofemoral joint alignment and OA evidence. Material and methods A total of 277 MRIs performed at Imam Reza Hospital during the first half of 2017 were included. Patients were divided into two groups, under 50 years old and over 50 years old. Femoral sulcus angle (SA) and depth (SD), lateral patellar displacement (LPD), tibial tubercle-trochlear groove (TTTG), lateral patellofemoral angle (LPFA), and Insall-Salvati index were measured in axial and sagittal images. The morphology of the patellofemoral articular cartilage was evaluated and the grade of joint damage was determined. P -value < 0.05 was considered as significant. Results Significant correlations between SA ( p -value = 0.01), SD ( p -value < 0.001), Insall-Salvati index ( p -value < 0.001), LPD ( p -value = 0.02) values and OA in patients less than 50 years old were observed. A weak correlation was observed between SD and Insall-Salvati index values with increasing grade of articular cartilage damage ( r = 0.21 and r = 0.21, respectively). Conclusions Patellofemoral joint asymmetry in the younger people was significantly associated with joint cartilage damage and premature patellofemoral joint OA. Joint misalignment by stressing the articular cartilage causes joint cartilage changes that may be congenital or due to bone injuries such as trauma and surgery.

Morphological analysis of patellofemoral joint in haemophilic arthropathy: A case‐control study

“…radiographs obtained prior to the knee MRI. 18 Remainder of radiological parameters, including patellar luxation, direction (medial/lateral) and degree of patellar tilt (PT), length of the patella in the anteroposterior axis (pAP), length of the patella in the mediolateral axis (pML), sulcus angle (SA), sulcus depth (SD), lateral trochlear inclination (LTI), medial femoral facet length (mFL), lateral femoral facet length (LFL), intercondylar depth (ID), transepicondylar axis (TEA), distance between the medial femoral condyle and lateral femoral condyle (MFC-LFC) and lateral condyle length (LCL) were assessed on knee MRI [19][20][21][22] (Figure 1).…”

“…The study adopted a matched-pair case-control study design and was conducted in a centre with a longstanding multidisciplinary team dedicated to the care of PwHs. between the medial femoral condyle and lateral femoral condyle (MFC-LFC) and lateral condyle length (LCL) were assessed on knee MRI [19][20][21][22] (Figure 1).…”