Abstract / Summary
Introduction: Being placed subcutaneously, the patellofemoral joint carries a lot of significance and is also prone to a higher risk of trauma. Developmental and degenerative changes in patella are very common, sometimes warranting surgical intervention as well. Surgical procedures like total knee arthroplasty which are being performed across different age groups worldwide, mandating a study to evaluate the morphometric analysis of patella and its indices in different population. Aim: To estimate the various patellar indices like Patellar Angle (PA), Patellar Relative Thickness (PRT), Patellar Facet Thickness (PFT), Patellar Lateral Facet Ratio (PLFR) and Patellar Medial Facet Ratio (PMLR) across both genders and also to compare and contrast them within the same gender by broadly classifying the cohorts into two different age groups. Materials and Methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted in the Department of Radiology over four months, including 324 MRI. Patellar parameters such as height, width, thickness, angle, lateral facet width, medial facet width and indices like PA, PRT, PFT, PLFR and PMLR were measured, and statistical analysis was performed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Statistics software, version 22.0. Results: The MRI of 162 males and 162 females were categorically classified into two groups: between 20-40 years and above 40 years. Across genders, strong statistical significance was observed for all parameters, including patellar height, width, angle, thickness, and facet thickness. Type 2 of Wiberg patellar variant was found to be the most commonly observed of the three types:30 (37%) in females of the 20-40 years group, 45 (56%) in females > 40 years group, 43 (53%) in males of 20-40 years group and 49 (61%) in males >40 years group. Conclusion: It was notable that almost all the parameters were statistically significant across the genders, while the significance was notably less when compared across the different age groups.