Morphological analysis of the distal femur: a radiological study

Abstract

Objectives: The morphology of the femur in both proximal and distal parts has been the subject of various studies. The dimensions of the distal femur are important in prosthesis and implant design, especially for knee joints in cases such as total knee arthroplasty. This study aims to enrich the limited literature on distal femur morphology by using computed tomography images of 100 dry femur bones obtained from the human skeleton. Methods: Computed tomography sections were evaluated for the distal parts of 100 dry human femur bones and parameters such as mediolateral length, anteroposterior width, and medial and lateral condyle widths were measured. Measurement data were presented as means and standard deviations. Results: As a result of the measurements, the mean mediolateral length was 76.1 mm and the mean anteroposterior width was 59.9 mm. The femoral aspect ratio was 1.27. Conclusion: Understanding the variations in distal femur morphology will reduce the risk of bone-size mismatch in total knee replacement designs.

Keywords

• computed tomography
• distal femur
• morphology
• total knee arthroplasty

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