Morpometric measurement by 3D modeling of patella from CT scanning images and production with a 3D printer

Objective: The aim of this study was to make morphometric measurements of the patella for total knee arthroplasty in the Turkish population. Method: A 3D model was created with computerized tomography images of the knee joint of eighty-six people (36 women, 50 men and ages 21-65). Measurements were made with a digital ruler. The height of the patella, the width of the patella, the thickness of the patella, the height of the articulating facet, the width of the medial facet and the width of the lateral facet were measured. Results: All measurements except the width of the patella and the width of the medial facet showed a significant gender difference with p<0.05, but the six measured variables of the left and right knees were not statistically significant. None of the patella measurements showed a statistically significant relationship with age. A statistically significant relationship was detected between the patella width and patella height of the cases (as patella width increases, patella height also increases) (r=0.748; p=0.001; p<0.01). Results: In this study, men's patellas were found to be larger than women's. There was no statistically significant difference in patella measurements between the left and right knees. According to our study, the patella in the Turkish population was found to be smaller than in Westerners.