title: The potential effect of anatomic relationship between the femur and the tibia on medial meniscus tears.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The anatomic and the kinematical relationships between the femur and the tibia have been previously examined in both normal and diseased knees. However, less attention has been directed to the effect of these relationships on the meniscal diseases. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the impact of femorotibial incongruence on both lateral and medial meniscal tears.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 100 images obtained from MRI of 100 patients (39 males and 61 females) were included in the study. Diameters of the medial and the lateral femoral condyles, thicknesses of the menisci, and diameters of the medial and the lateral tibial articular surfaces were measured.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The medial meniscus tear was detected in 40 (40 %) patients. However, no lateral meniscus tear was found. Significant relationships were found between the diameters of the posterior medial femoral condyle and the medial tibial superior articular surface and between the diameters of the posterior lateral femoral condyle and the lateral tibial superior articular surface. The mean values for the diameter of the medial condyle of the femur, the lateral condyle of the femur, the medial superior articular surface of the tibia, and the lateral superior articular surface of the tibia were found to be significantly higher in cases with meniscus tear compared to cases without meniscus tear. However, no significant difference was present regarding the thicknesses of the medial and the lateral menisci. A positive relationship between the diameter of the posterior medial femoral condyle and the tibial medial superior articular surface was found in cases with (n = 40) (r (2) = 0.208, p = 0.003) and without tear (n = 60) (r (2) = 0.182, p = 0.001). In addition, a significant positive relationship was found between the diameter of the posterior medial femoral condyle and the medial tibial superior articular surface in cases with and without tear.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The impact of femorotibial incongruence on the medial meniscus tear is important for the understanding of the lesions.
authors: Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Faculty of Medicine, Ataturk Training and Research Hospital, Yıldırım Beyazıt University, Bilkent, Ankara, Turkey, nmbozkurt@yahoo.com.
authors: Murat
authors: M
authors: Bozkurt
authors: Serhan
authors: S
authors: Unlu
authors: Nurdan
authors: N
authors: Cay
authors: Nihal
authors: N
authors: Apaydin
authors: Metin
authors: M
authors: Dogan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D005260:Female; D005269:Femur / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D007718:Knee Injuries / Q000473:pathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D013977:Tibia / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D000070600:Tibial Meniscus Injuries