Morphometric Study of Patella and Its Role in Sex Determination Among Egyptians Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Abstract

In the morphometry of the patella, there are several naturally occurring variations. Few studies have focused on these anatomical differences among the Egyptian population. The present work aimed to evaluate age and gender variations in different morphometric patellar measurements using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the Egyptian population. Nine patellar parameters were measured on 200 individuals “100 males and 100 females”, aged from 20 to 70 years old using knee joint MRI obtained retrospectively from the picture archiving and communication system (PACS) of Radiology Department, Mansoura University. The mean values revealed statistically significant differences across gender for 5 out of 9 patellar measurements and 4 out of 9 across age, denoting sex and age differentiation in patellar morphology among the Egyptian population. Patellar height (PH), width (PW), thickness (PT), lateral facet width (PLFW), and facet thickness (PFT) showed statistically significant sexual dimorphism (p≤ 0.05) in all age groups. On the other hand, patellar angle (PA) showed the highest statistically significant difference (p ≤ 0.001) for age estimation in all age groups. PH, PW, and PLFW showed a statistically significant negative correlation with age. Moreover, patellar measurements showed high accuracy rates for sex determination among the Egyptian population (84.3-93.6%) in different age groups. Morphometric patellar measurements obtained by non-invasive MRI examination were shown to be useful for sex determination and age prediction in the Egyptian population.