Human Knee Joint Anatomy Revisited: Morphometry in the Light of Sex-Specific Total Knee Arthroplasty

Dargel, Jens; Michael, Joern W.P.; Feiser, Janna; Ivo, Roland; Koebke, Juergen

doi:10.1016/j.arth.2009.12.019

« Previous Next »The Journal of Arthroplasty
Volume 26, Issue 3 , Pages 346-353, April 2011

Human Knee Joint Anatomy Revisited: Morphometry in the Light of Sex-Specific Total Knee Arthroplasty

Jens Dargel, MD
- Department of Orthopedic Surgery, University of Cologne, Joseph-Stelzmann Strasse, Cologne, Germany
- University of Cologne Center of Anatomy Joseph-Stelzmann Strasse, Cologne, Germany
- Reprint requests: Jens Dargel, MD, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, University of Cologne, Joseph-Stelzmann Strasse 9, 50924 Cologne, Germany.
Joern W.P. Michael, PhD
- Department of Orthopedic Surgery, University of Cologne, Joseph-Stelzmann Strasse, Cologne, Germany
Janna Feiser, PhD
- University of Cologne Center of Anatomy Joseph-Stelzmann Strasse, Cologne, Germany
Roland Ivo, MD
- Department of Orthopedic Surgery, University of Cologne, Joseph-Stelzmann Strasse, Cologne, Germany
Juergen Koebke, PhD
- University of Cologne Center of Anatomy Joseph-Stelzmann Strasse, Cologne, Germany

Received 23 June 2009; received in revised form 8 November 2009; accepted 22 December 2009. published online 08 March 2010.

Abstract

This study investigates differences in the anatomy of male and female knee joints to contribute to the current debate on sex-specific total knee implants. Morphometric data were obtained from 60 human cadaver knees, and sex differences were calculated. All data were corrected for height, and male and female specimens presenting with an identical length of the femur were analyzed as matched pairs. Male linear knee joint dimensions were significantly larger when compared with females. When corrected for differences in height, medial-lateral dimensions of male knees were significantly larger than female; however, matched paired analysis did not prove these differences to be consistent. Although implant design should focus interindividual variations in knee joint anatomy, our data do not support the concept of a female-specific implant design.

Keywords: anatomy, knee, arthroplasty, sex differences, femur, tibia