title: The Influence of Articular Cartilage Thickness Reduction on Meniscus Biomechanics.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Evaluation of the biomechanical interaction between meniscus and cartilage in medial compartment knee osteoarthritis.
  
  
  METHODS
  The finite element method was used to simulate knee joint contact mechanics. Three knee models were created on the basis of knee geometry from the Open Knee project. We reduced the thickness of medial cartilages in the intact knee model by approximately 50% to obtain a medial knee osteoarthritis (OA) model. Two variants of medial knee OA model with congruent and incongruent contact surfaces were analysed to investigate the influence of congruency. A nonlinear static analysis for one compressive load case was performed. The focus of the study was the influence of cartilage degeneration on meniscal extrusion and the values of the contact forces and contact areas.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the model with incongruent contact surfaces, we observed maximal compressive stress on the tibial plateau. In this model, the value of medial meniscus external shift was 95.3% greater, while the contact area between the tibial cartilage and medial meniscus was 50% lower than in the congruent contact surfaces model. After the non-uniform reduction of cartilage thickness, the medial meniscus carried only 48.4% of load in the medial compartment in comparison to 71.2% in the healthy knee model.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We have shown that the change in articular cartilage geometry may significantly reduce the role of meniscus in load transmission and the contact area between the meniscus and cartilage. Additionally, medial knee OA may increase the risk of meniscal extrusion in the medial compartment of the knee joint.
authors.affiliation: II Clinic of Orthopaedics and Kinetic Organ Traumatology, Medical University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland.
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Łuczkiewicz
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanics of Materials, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Gdańsk University of Technology, Gdańsk, Poland.
authors.forename: Karol
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Daszkiewicz
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanics of Materials, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Gdańsk University of Technology, Gdańsk, Poland.
authors.forename: Jacek
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chróścielewski
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanics of Materials, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Gdańsk University of Technology, Gdańsk, Poland.
authors.forename: Wojciech
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Witkowski
authors.affiliation: Institute of Human Physiology, Medical University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland.|Institute of Health Sciences, Pomeranian University of Słupsk, Słupsk, Poland.
authors.forename: Pawel J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Winklewski
mesh_terms: D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000473:pathology*; D020342:Finite Element Analysis; D006801:Humans; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000473:pathology*; D000072600:Meniscus / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000473:pathology*; D008953:Models, Anatomic; D020370:Osteoarthritis, Knee / Q000473:pathology*; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D013977:Tibia / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000473:pathology; D016474:Weight-Bearing