THE MORPHOLOGY OF THE DISTAL FEMUR: DIFFERENCES IN FEMUR TYPE AND RELEVANCE TO FEMORAL COMPONENT ROTATION AND FLEXION GAP

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess whether there was significant variation in distal femoral morphology between individuals. In the first part of this study we analysed the distal femoral morphology of 100 consecutive patients undergoing routine total knee replacement for osteoarthritis. In the second part we reviewed the morphology of 50 cadaveric distal femoral specimens without osteoarthritis. There was considerable variability in distal femoral morphology.

Our findings suggest that: 1, use of the posterior condylar axis for femoral component alignment should be used cautiously; 2, problems in balancing flexion and extension gaps on both sides of the knee can be predicted; 3, a greater range of femoral component shapes should be available.