Morphometry of the medial tibial plateau in Turkish knees: correlation to the current tibial components of unicompartmental knee arthroplasty

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to measure the resected surfaces of the tibia in knees of Turkish patients and to compare these measurements with the dimensions of tibial implants in current use.

Methods: We made measurements of seven different dimensions of the medial tibial plateau at the virtual resection level for unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) on MRIs of 260 patients and the most commonly used four UKA implants in Turkey. Statistical analysis was performed by using Student's t-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), chi-square test and Pearson's correlation coefficient by using SPSS software.

Results: The anteroposterior and widest mediolateral dimensions of the tibial plateau of Turkish knees were found relatively more approximate to the dimensions of Oxford and Zuk prostheses compared to that of Accuris and Mitus (p<0.001). The distance between the central mediolateral dimension and the widest mediolateral dimension was 2.4 (range: 0-6.3) mm in males and 2.6 (range: 0-6.2) mm in females. The maximum mediolateral dimension was found posterior to the central mediolateral dimension in the majority (202 out of 260) of cases. These findings point towards the asymmetry in the AP halves of the resected medial tibial condyle.

Conclusion: Tibial components designed according to anthropometric measurements based on both Western and Asian populations do not perfectly meet the requirements of Turkish population. Designing different UKA prostheses for different populations are required for best fit.