Association of Mechanical Axis With Osteochondritis Dissecans of the Femoral Condyle

Osteochondritis dissecans (OCD) is a condition characterized by abnormal subchondral bone with disturbance of overlying articular cartilage. The role of weightbearing alignment in the pathophysiology of OCD lesion development is not fully understood.

Lower extremity mechanical axis would be concordant with femoral condylar OCD lesion location.

Cross-sectional study; Level of evidence, 3.

Cases were identified from a single, large academic institutional database using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision and Tenth Revision and Current Procedural Terminology codes associated with OCD. Patients were included if they had a magnetic resonance imaging scan demonstrating the OCD lesion and lower extremity alignment radiographs. OCD lesion location was identified using Cahill and Berg zones. The primary outcome was the association of OCD lesion location with weightbearing mechanical axis. Secondary outcomes included the association of mechanical axis with skeletal maturity, OCD lesion stability, and treatment. For unilateral OCD lesions, mechanical axis was compared between affected and unaffected lower extremities.

A total of 86 patients (95 knees) with an OCD lesion of the femoral condyle were identified. The population was 74% male, and the mean age was 21 years. In total, 65% of knees had closed physes, 82% of lesions were unstable, and 85% underwent a surgical procedure. Mechanical axis was located in the same zone as the OCD lesion in 48% of cases and within the same compartment in 56% of cases. Spearman correlation coefficient demonstrated a moderate positive correlation (r_s = 0.59). No significant differences were found in the association of mechanical axis and OCD lesion location in subgroup analysis of medial versus lateral femoral condylar OCD lesions, skeletal maturity, stability of the lesion, or treatment group. For patients with varus alignment and medial femoral condylar OCD lesions, the mean lateral distal femoral angle was 89.9°, and medial proximal tibial angle was 85.4°; for valgus alignment and lateral femoral condylar lesions, the lateral distal femoral angle was 84.8°, and medial proximal tibial angle was 88.8°. Patients with unilateral medial femoral condylar OCD lesions were more likely to have varus alignment of the affected extremity compared with the contralateral extremity (59% vs 36%; P = .01).

This study demonstrated a relationship between lower extremity mechanical weightbearing axis and femoral condylar OCD location. Patients with unilateral medial femoral condylar OCD lesions frequently had asymmetric varus alignment in the affected extremity.