Significant difference in femoral torsion between coronal plane alignment of the knee type 1 and 4

The purpose of this study was to find out whether the torsions of the femur and tibia are dependent on the coronal plane alignment of the knee (CPAK) type.

Five hundred patients (1000 legs) were included, who received a whole leg standing three-dimensional (3D) radiograph using EOS imaging (EOS Imaging, Paris, France). SterEOS software was used for digital reconstruction. Femoral and tibial torsions were determined by analysing 3D reconstructions of each leg. Femoral torsion was defined as the angle between the femoral neck axis (FNA) and the posterior condylar axis (PCA). Tibial torsion was defined as the angle between the axis tangent to the posterior part of the tibia plateau and the transmalleolar axis. Arithmetic hip-knee-ankle angle (aHKA) and joint-line obliquity (JLO) were also determined, allowing each leg to be assigned one of nine possible phenotypes according to CPAK.

The mean femoral torsion in CPAK type 1 was significantly higher (+ 2.6° ± 0.8°) than in CPAK type 4 (p = 0.02). All other CPAK types did not differ in the degree of femoral torsions. No differences could be demonstrated for the tibial torsion.

There is a correlation between the coronal alignment of the lower limb and femoral torsion. This may provide the basis for extending the CPAK classification beyond the coronal plane.

Level III.