Knee Joint-Related Parameters of Kaschin-Beck Disease Measured by Digital Imaging

Background: Kaschin-Beck disease (KBD) is a rare deforming endemic osteoarticular disease. Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is the optimal approach for patients with advanced KBD, as it can greatly relieve pain, restore motion function, and improve life quality. This paper retrospectively investigated the digital X-ray imaging measurement of knee parameters of KBD patients and their clinical significance. Methods: A total of 93 knees were categorized into 3 groups: KBD group, degenerative osteoarthropathy group and normal group. Clinical and imaging data including femoral condyle diameter, tibial plateau diameter, posterior slope angle, distance between medial tibial plateau and fibular head (DPF), patella thickness, length of patella and width of patella were measured by AutoCAD 10.0. Results: In normal group, the femoral condyle diameter of males and females was 7.34 cm and 6.64 cm, respectively; the tibial plateau diameter was 7.54 cm and 6.90 cm; the posterior slope angle was 7.30 degrees and 10.91 degrees; DPF was 1.44 cm and 0.81 cm; patella thickness was 2.05 cm and 1.79 cm; the patella length was 4.34 cm and 3.82 cm; the patella width was 4.90 cm and 4.31 cm. Based on the data, the KBD group had greater mean of posterior slope angle, femoral condyle and tibial plateau diameter compared with normal group of the same gender, but shorter male DPF. There were significant differences between the KBD group and normal group in female posterior slope angle, and male DPF (P < 0.01). There was significant difference between the degenerative group and normal group in male DPF (P < 0.01). There was a marked difference between the KBD group and degenerative group in posterior slope angle on both genders (P < 0.01). Conclusion: The imaging measurement of KBD knees is of great clinical significance, and it will help to increase the accuracy of TKA. These data also provide useful information for knee surgery, and imaging diagnosis.