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Comparative Study
. 2007;40(13):2961-6.
doi: 10.1016/j.jbiomech.2007.02.005. Epub 2007 Apr 5.

A comparison of the influence of global functional loads vs. local contact anatomy on articular cartilage thickness at the knee

Seungbum Koo  1 , Thomas P Andriacchi
Affiliations
Comparative Study

A comparison of the influence of global functional loads vs. local contact anatomy on articular cartilage thickness at the knee

Seungbum Koo et al. J Biomech. 2007.

Abstract

Cartilage contact geometry, along with joint loading, can play an important role in determining local articular cartilage tissue stress. Thus individual variations in cartilage thickness can be associated with both individual variations in joint loading associated with activities of daily living as well as individual differences in the anatomy of the contacting surfaces of the joint. The purpose of this study was to isolate the relationship between cartilage thickness predicted by individual variations in contact surface geometry based on the radii of the femur and tibia vs. cartilage thickness predicted by individual variations in joint loading. Knee magnetic resonance (MR) images and the peak knee adduction moments during walking were obtained from 11 young healthy male subjects (age 30.5+/-5.1 years). The cartilage thicknesses and surface radii of the femoral and tibial cartilage were measured in the weight-bearing regions of the medial and lateral compartments of three-dimensional models from the MR images. The ratio of contact pressure between the medial and lateral compartments was calculated from the radii of tibiofemoral contact surface geometries. The results showed that the medial to lateral pressure ratios were not correlated with the medial to lateral cartilage thickness ratios. However, in general, pressure was higher in the lateral than medial compartments and cartilage was thicker in the lateral than medial compartments. The peak knee adduction moment showed a significant positive linear correlation with medial to lateral thickness ratio in both femur (R(2)=0.43,P<0.01) and tibia (R(2)=0.32,P<0.01). The results of this study suggest that the dynamics of walking is an important factor to describe individual differences in cartilage thickness for normal subjects.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) Tibiofemoral weight bearing regions at full knee extension were manually identified. The regions matched well with the thickest regions in each compartment. (b) Articular surface radii were measured in anterior-posterior (AP) and medial-lateral (ML) directions at the center of each tibiofemoral weight bearing region. The acronyms represent femoral medial, femoral lateral, tibial medial and tibial lateral regions for FM, FL, TM and TL, respectively.
Figure 2
Figure 2
A summary of the data processing, measurements and statistical analyses
Figure 3
Figure 3
(a) Average radii in mm, of femoral and tibial cartilage in the medial-lateral (ML) direction (b,c) average radii of the femoral and tibial cartilage in anterior-posterior (AP) direction in the lateral and medial compartments.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The medial to lateral thickness ratio was not associated with the medial to lateral pressure ratio in both femoral and tibial cartilage, but, in general, the cartilage was thicker in the lateral compartment and the pressure was higher also in the lateral compartment.
Figure 5
Figure 5
The medial to lateral thickness ratio was significantly associated with the peak knee adduction moment during walking in both femoral and tibial cartilage at the significance level of α=0.05.
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