Association of Femoral Trochlear Dysplasia and Tibiofemoral Joint Morphology in Adolescent

BACKGROUND: Trochlear dysplasia (TD) often leads to anatomic variations of the knee. Little is known about the association of TD and tibiofemoral joint morphology in adolescent. MATERIAL/METHODS: Computed tomography scans of 35 knees with TD and 55 knees with well-developed patella-femoral joint were analyzed randomly and retrospectively. Two researchers evaluated the posterior tibial slope (PTS), distal femoral rotation, proximal tibia varus angle, and femoral anteversion between the 2 groups. The independent Student’s t-test was used to evaluate the statistical significance of variables. RESULTS: The study group had a smaller lateral PTS (4.7±2.97) than the control group (6.96±3.05) (P<0.01), while the medial PTS showed consistent values between the control and the study group (non-significant). Patients with TD had smaller external rotation of the distal femur (2.69±0.93) compared to the control group (3.77±1.46) (P<0.01). In addition, the study group showed a bigger proximal tibia varus angle (4.46±1.09) compared to the control group (3.35±0.76) (P<0.01). The femoral anteversion in the study group (17.46±9.95) was increased compared to the control group (12.22±5.39) (P<0.01). The femoral anteversion and distal femoral rotation in patients with TD showed a positive correlation (r(2)=0.326; P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with TD had flatter lateral PTS compared to those without TD, but there were no differences in the medial PTS between the two groups. Patients with TD had smaller distal femoral rotation and bigger proximal tibia varus angle. The femoral anteversion in patients with TD was bigger than those without TD,and there was a positive correlation between the femoral anteversion and the external rotation of the distal femoral in the study group.