Virginia Research Day 2025

Medical Student Research Biomedical

02 Lateral Patellar Facet Contact Area Correlates with Femoral Epicondylar Width

Tyler McCormick; Phillip Dunn; Jonathan Millard Corresponding author: tmccormick@vcom.edu

Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine - Virginia Campus

Despite its important role in many biomechanical mechanisms in the lower extremities, there is a paucity of reports about the patella’s dimensional relationship with other bones in the lower extremities. This study aims to explore the relationship between patellar metrics and their correlation with dimensions of the femur and tibia. Eighty patellae were dissected from whole-body formalin-fixed donors (average age 85.45 years). Six measurements of the femur and tibia were collected. The patellae were scanned using a Bruker SkyScan 1276 Micro CT scanner at a resolution of 100µm. The scans were imported into 3DSlicer (v.5.6.2) for segmentation. In addition to

facet surface areas, the length of the patella’s vertical ridge and the length from the base to apex were collected. A correlation matrix was created to explore global trends in the data, and independent samples t-tests were conducted to assess differences between sexes and bony measurements (α=.05). All statistical analyses were performed using RStudio (version 4.3.2). Results: The strongest positive correlations were seen between the width of the femoral epicondyles and patellar metrics, particularly the surface area of the lateral facet (r = 0.57). Although still positive, correlations between patellar metrics and other dimensions of the femur and tibia were much

weaker. All skeletal measurements were significantly different between males and females, including the four patellar metrics (p = <0.001). Conclusions: The results suggest that epicondylar width is a reasonably strong predictor of patellar morphology. Patellar morphology appears more constrained by local bony elements, with weaker relationships to other bony dimensions. These relationships should also be considered in patellofemoral malignment. Future directions could include geometric assessments of patellar shape.

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