Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-995ml Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T09:38:09.786Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Thickness of the subchondral mineralised tissue zone (SMZ) in normal male and female and pathological human patellae

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 1998

FELIX ECKSTEIN
Affiliation:
Anatomische Anstalt, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 80336 München, Germany
STEFAN MILZ
Affiliation:
Anatomische Anstalt, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 80336 München, Germany
HERMANN ANETZBERGER
Affiliation:
Anatomische Anstalt, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 80336 München, Germany
REINHARD PUTZ
Affiliation:
Anatomische Anstalt, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 80336 München, Germany
Get access

Abstract

The objective of this paper was to analyse sex differences of the thickness of the subchondral mineralised tissue zone (SMZ), and to find out whether systematic changes of SMZ thickness are associated with naturally occurring, non-full-thickness cartilage lesions of human patellae. In 32 methyl-methacrylate-embedded specimens (16 normal, 8 with focal medial, and 8 with lateral lesions) the SMZ thickness was determined, using a binocular macroscope and an image analysing system. In each case, the thickness distribution was reconstructed throughout the entire joint surface. The maximal and mean SMZ thicknesses were significantly higher in males than in females (P<0.01). In normal patellae and those with lateral lesions, the thickness was significantly thicker laterally than medially (P<0.05), but it was not in specimens with medial damage. Patellae with medial damage exhibited a significantly lower total mean and lateral mean (P<0.05). A lower SMZ thickness was found directly beneath medial lesions than beneath lateral ones, but the local thickness was always in the range of that observed in normal specimens. We conclude that differences of patellar SMZ thickness exist between males and females. Naturally occurring cartilage lesions appear, however, not to be associated with local changes of SMZ thickness, but they may be associated with an altered regional distribution pattern within the joint surface.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1998

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)