Normal anatomical variations of tibial plateau geometry in Indian population: a magnetic resonance image-based study

Abstract

Background: Geometry of tibial plateau characterized by its medial tibial plateau slope (MTS), lateral tibial plateau slope (LTS), depth of concavity of medial tibial plateau (CMT), convexity of lateral tibial plateau on sagittal section and coronal tibial plateau slope (CTS) on coronal section of tibia. Methods: 500 subjects (male-250, female-250) were included in the study. Various tibial slopes of each subject were measured using magnetic resonance image (MRI) of knee joint. Data was analysed using appropriate statistical analysis. Results: When considering male and female one group (total population) mean (±SD) of MTS, LTS, CMT, CTS were 7.73±3.20 0 , 4.68±2.75 0 , 2.56±0.56 mm and 2.61±2.15 0 respectively. In male population mean (±SD) of MTS, LTS, CMT, CTS were 6.94±3.2 0 , 3.77±1.85 0 , 2.7±0.55 mm, 3.06±2.39 0 respectively. In female population population mean (±SD) of MTS, LTS, CMT, CTS were 9.28±2.65 0 , 6.45±3.36 0 , 2.28±0.48 mm, 1.75±1.24 0 respectively. Over all MTS and LTS was poorly correlated (r=0.43). Female had significant steeper MTS (p=0.013) and LTS (p=0.001) but had less CTS (p=0.04) and shallow CMT (p=0.012) compared to male. Conclusions: Knowledge of this study could be used in different operative orthopaedic procedures (like knee arthroplasty, high tibial osteotomy, tibial plateau fracture fixation), non-contact ACL injury risk assessment.