Femoral intercondylar notch measurements in osteoarthritic knees

We measured the dimensions of the intercondylar notch of the femur in 32 patients with primary severe osteoarthrosis (OA) of the knee and 54 embalmed cadaveric knees.

There were 56 knees with morphologically normal anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), 11 knees with lax or partially ruptured ACL and 19 knees with missing ACL. The average width of the intercondylar notch in knees with lax and missing ACL was significantly narrower than that of knees with normal ACL. In addition, knees with missing ACL had a significantly smaller notch depth than knees with normal ACL. In medial compartment OA (56 knees), the notch width and depth in knees with severe OA (37 knees) were significantly smaller than those in normal (19 knees) and mild to moderate OA groups (19 knees).

Our results indicate that osteophyte growth in the femoral intercondylar notch seems to correlate with the progression of medial compartment OA of the knee.