Patients with trochlear dysplasia have dysplastic medial femoral epiphyseal plates

Lingce Kong; Huijun Kang; Yingzhen Niu; Kuo Hao; Chongyi Fan; Fei Wang

doi:10.1007/s00167-023-07545-2

Patients with trochlear dysplasia have dysplastic medial femoral epiphyseal plates

Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc. 2023 Nov;31(11):4951-4960. doi: 10.1007/s00167-023-07545-2. Epub 2023 Aug 22.

Authors

Lingce Kong¹, Huijun Kang¹, Yingzhen Niu¹, Kuo Hao¹, Chongyi Fan¹, Fei Wang²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, 050051, Hebei, China.
² Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, 050051, Hebei, China. doctorwfei@163.com.

PMID: 37606638
DOI: 10.1007/s00167-023-07545-2

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the growth of the epiphyseal plate in patients with trochlea dysplasia using a 3D computed tomography (CT)-based reconstruction of the bony structure of the distal femur. The epiphysis plate was divided into a medial part and a lateral part to compare their differences in patients with trochlear dysplasia.

Methods: This retrospective study included 50 patients with trochlea dysplasia in the study group and 50 age- and sex-matched patients in the control group. Based on the CT images, MIMICS was used to reconstruct the bony structure of the distal femur. Measurements included the surface area and volume of the growth plate (both medial and lateral), the surface area and capacity of the proximal trochlea, trochlea-physis distance (TPD) (both medial and lateral), and height of the medial and lateral condyle.

Results: The surface area of the medial epiphyseal plate (1339.8 ± 202.4 mm² vs. 1596.6 ± 171.8 mm²), medial TPD (4.9 ± 2.8 mm vs. 10.6 ± 3.0 mm), height of the medial condyle (1.1 ± 2.5 mm vs. 4.9 ± 1.3 mm), and capacity of the proximal trochlear groove (821.7 ± 230.9 mm³ vs. 1520.0 ± 498.0 mm³) was significantly smaller in the study group than in the control group. A significant positive correlation was found among the area of the medial epiphyseal plate, the medial TPD, the height of the medial condyle and the capacity of the proximal trochlear groove (r = 0.502-0.638).

Conclusion: The medial epiphyseal plate was dysplastic in patients with trochlea dysplasia. There is a significant positive correlation between the surface area of the medial epiphyseal plate, medial TPD, height of the medial condyle and capacity of the proximal trochlear groove, which can be used to evaluate the developmental stage of the trochlea in clinical practice and to guide targeted treatment of trochlear dysplasia.

Level of evidence: III.

Keywords: Epiphyseal plate; Patellar instability; Three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction; Trochlear dysplasia.

Abstract

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