The study of the distal femur rotational alignment in the Han nationality and its clinical significance

Abstract

Objective To explore the distal femur rotational alignment in normal Chinese of Han nationality and investigate its clinical application.Methods 409 volunteers (214 males and 195 females) from Beijing,Hebei,Xinjiang and Chongqing,aged from 17 to 65 (37.7 in average) had undergone CT scan of their lower limbs.The CT scan images of 746 normal knees (374 left and 372 right knees) were obtained.With computer-assisted image processing and reconstruction,the correlative parameters,including posterior condylar angle (PCA),condylar twist angle (CTA),and the angle between clinical transepicondylar axis and surgical transepicondylar axis (CSA) were measured.The parameters of two groups between males and females,as well as left and fight sides were analyzed.Results PCA:3.29°±1.24° in average,3.31°±1.30° in males,3.26°±1.17° in females,3.24°± 1.26° in left knees and 3.33°± 1.22° in right knees.CTA:7.06°±1.63° in average,7.02°± 1.63° in males,7.11°± 1.63° in females,7.06°± 1.68° in left knees and 7.06°± 1.58° in right knees.CSA:3.81°± 1.14° in average,3.72°± 1.11 ° in males,3.91°± 1.17° in females,3.83°±1.20° in left knees and 3.80°±1.08° in right knees.There was no significant difference between males and females,as well as left and right side in terms of PCA and CTA.There was no significant difference between left and right side,while there was significant difference between males and females in terms of CSA.CSA was larger in females than in males.Conclusion The result of the distal femur rotational alignment in normal Han nationality obtained in this study is relatively accurate,which could make it more precise in total knee arthroplasty.Individual handling and different locating methods should be applied on the determination of distal femur rotational alignment in the surgery. Key words: Arthroplasty, replacement, knee; Femur, Tomography, X-ray computed