Gender and Side-to-Side Differences of Femoral Condyles Morphology: Osteometric Data from 360 Caucasian Dried Femori

The purpose of the present study was to conduct direct measurements in a large sample of dried femori in order to record certain morphometric parameters of the femoral condyles and determine whether there are gender and side differences. Three hundred sixty (Greek) Caucasian dried femori (180 left and 180 right), from 192 males and 168 females, were measured using a digital caliper. The mean age was 67.52 years. The mean bicondylar width of the femur was 8.86 cm ± 0.42 cm in men and 7.85 cm ± 0.30 cm in women (P < 0.01). The relative values for the medial condylar depth were 6.11 cm ± 0.34 cm and 5.59 cm ± 0.29 cm (P < 0.05); for the lateral condylar depth were 6.11 cm ± 0.33 cm and 5.54 cm ± 0.21 cm (P < 0.01); for the intercondylar width were 2.20 cm ± 0.18 cm and 1.87 cm ± 0.10 cm (P < 0.001); for the intercondylar depth were 2.78 cm ± 0.16 cm and 2.37 cm ± 0.12 cm (P < 0.001). No significant side-to-side difference was observed in any parameter. The femoral condyles differences in anatomy between genders might be useful to the design of total knee prostheses. The contralateral healthy side can be safely used for preoperative templating since there were no significant side differences.