In vivo magnetic resonance imaging morphometry of the patella bone in South Indian population

Racial differences exist in the dimensions of structures and the commercially available prostheses are designed based on the Caucasians. In this context, the goal of the present investigation was to determine the gender wise measurements of patella bone in South Indians. The present study included axial magnetic resonance images of the knee joint from 140 South Indian adults (70 males, 70 females; aged between 20-70 years). The angle, width, thickness, lateral facet width, facet thickness, ratio of the lateral facet, the relative thickness and ratio of facet thickness were measured in the patella by using the digital ruler. The statistical analysis was performed by using the SPSS software. The dimensions exhibited statistically highly significant sexual dimorphism (P≤0.001). The mean value was higher in males than females except for the ratio of patellar lateral facet and patellar facet thickness ratio. It was observed that the males exhibit more variability than females in all the measurements of patella except patellar thickness, patellar facet thickness, patellar relative thickness, and patellar facet thickness ratio. The present study of the in vivo morphometry of patella bone from the South Indians can provide a population and gender specific database for the morphometric measurements of the patella. We believe that the data of the present study will be useful to the orthopaedician during the procedures like arthroplasty of the total knee, patellofemoral arthroplasty, resurfacing of patella, and designing the prosthetic implant.