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Published on: July 22, 2021
The volume of the human knee joint
Georg Matziolis1, Eric Roehner2, Christoph Windisch2
1Orthopaedic Department, Friedrich-Schiller University, Campus Eisenberg, Klosterlausnitzer Straße 81, 07607, Eisenberg, Germany. g.matziolis@krankenhaus-eisenberg.de.
Introduction:
Despite its clinical relevance, particularly in septic knee surgery, the volume of the human knee joint has not been established to date. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine knee joint volume and whether or not it is dependent on sex or body height.
Methods:
Sixty-one consecutive patients (joints) who were due to undergo endoprosthetic joint replacement were enrolled in this prospective study. During the operation, the joint volume was determined by injecting saline solution until a pressure of 200 mmHg was achieved in the joint.
Results:
The average volume of all knee joints was 131 ± 53 (40-290) ml. The volume was not found to be dependent on sex, but it was dependent on the patients' height (R = 0.312, p = 0.014). This enabled an estimation of the joint volume according to V = 1.6 height - 135.
Conclusions:
The considerable inter-individual variance of the knee joint volume would suggest that it should be determined or at least estimated according to body height if the joint volume has consequences for the diagnostics or therapy of knee disorders.
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