Evaluation of the patella and patellafemoral region with magnetic resonance imaging

The aim of this study was to define knee joint anatomy and morphometry in healthy adults with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and to evaluate the differences between gender and age groups, and to determine the patella types of Turkish population, patella height index and patellar chondromalacia sign in two genders. The study was a retrospective study. In this study, two hundred and fifty-six healthy subjects, one hundred twenty-two females and one hundred thirty-four males aged between 18 and 81 who presented with various knee joint complaints and preliminary diagnosis to the Orthopedics Clinic in Kozan State Hospital between January 2015 and December 2017 were evaluated. Findings: As a result of the study, significant differences were found between Patella tendon length, patella length, Insal Salvati rate, and height index data between genders (p<0.05). Patella types did not show significant differences between genders; however, chondromalacia patella showed a significant difference between genders (p=0.03). A significant difference was found in the height index between genders (p<0.05). Conclusion: Patella types were classified and Type II patella was found to be the most common type of patella while Type IV was the least common patella type. In addition, there were no studies investigating patella types, patella heights and Insall-Salvati ratio at different age decades. So, in the light of data obtained, the results of our study will contribute to understand the patella morphometry in anatomy, radiology, and orthopedic practice and in the determination of knee pathologies in the aging process and reveal differences between societies in literature.