Clinical Value Of Morphometric Measurements In Femoral Intercondylar Notch By MRI

Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine if a correlation exists between the intercondylar notch shape of the femur and the injury of the anterior cruciate ligament(ACL)and to reveal anatomic differences in the femoral notch between men and women.Methods: Using magnetic resonance imaging to measure the paramenters of the intercondylar notch. Measurements of the intercondylar height(ICH),intercondylar width(ICW), medial condylar width(MCW), lateral condylar width(LCW) and epicondylar width(EW) were obtained. The notch shape index(NSI)and the notch width index(NWI) were also calculated. Statistical analysis for comparisons was done by Students's t-test. Correlations between the parameters studied were calculated by Pearson correlation coefficients.Results: NWI,NSI,and ICW had significant differences between ACL-injured individuals and normal individuals ( p〈0.001〉. All measurements had significant differences between men and women (p<0.001). No difference was seen in the NWI and NSI between males and females (p>0.05).Conclusion: The geometry of the intercondylar notch is one of the factors suspected to predispose individuals to ACL injury.Examnation by MRI is useful for anatomic evaluation of the distal femur region prior to orthopaedic operations.Differences exist between male and female intercondylar notch anatomy.There are no significant differences of NSI and NWI among sex, height and weight.