Gender differences of the morphology of the distal femur and proximal tibia in a Korean population.
OBJECTIVE
We conducted this study to determine whether the sizes of distal femurs and proximal tibiae in Korean men and women are different, and to assess suitability of the sizes of prostheses currently used in Korea.


METHODS
We performed morphological analysis of proximal tibia and distal femur on 115 patients (56 male, 59 female) using MRI to investigate a gender difference. Tibial mediolateral dimension (tMAP), tibial medial anteroposterior dimension (tMAP), tibial lateral anteroposterior dimension (tLAP) femoral mediolateral dimension (fML), femoral medial anteroposterior dimension (fMAP), and femoral lateral anteroposterior dimension (fLAP) were measured. The ratio of tMAP and tLAP to tML (plateau aspect ratio, tAP/tML×100%), and that of fMAP and fLAP to fML (condylar aspect ratio, fAP/fML×100%) were calculated. The measurements were compared with the similar dimensions of four total knee implants currently used.


RESULTS
The tML and tAP lengths showed a significant gender difference (P<0.05). The plateau aspect ratio (tMAP/tML) revealed a significant difference between male (0.74±0.05) and female (0.68±0.04, P<0.05). For morphotype of distal femur, males were found to have significantly large values (P<0.05) in the parameters, except for fLAP. With regards to the ratio of the ML width to the AP length, the women showed a narrower ML width than the men. Both genders were distributed within the range of the dimensions of the prostheses currently used prostheses.


CONCLUSIONS
Korean population revealed that women have smaller dimensions than male counterparts. In both genders, a relatively small size of prostheses matches distal femur and proximal tibia better among the implants currently used in Korea.
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Korea University College of Medicine, Guro Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Hong-Chul
HC
Lim
Ji-Hoon
JH
Bae
Ji-Yeol
JY
Yoon
Seung-Ju
SJ
Kim
Jae-Gyoon
JG
Kim
Jae-Moon
JM
Lee
D000328:Adult; D019645:Arthroplasty, Replacement, Knee; D005260:Female; D005269:Femur / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020370:Osteoarthritis, Knee / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000601:surgery; D011474:Prosthesis Design; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012737:Sex Factors; D013977:Tibia / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D055815:Young Adult