Abstract
Identifying appropriate attachment sites is important in the planning of medial patellofemoral ligament (MPFL) reconstruction. Two criteria are advanced to describe normal MPFL function, namely isometric criterion and desired pattern criterion. Subsequently, computational methods have applied these criteria to determine optimal attachment sites. So far, there is no study that compares the outcomes of these two criteria. For five subjects’ 3D models of the patella and femur, three patellar sites and many femoral sites were identified as pairs of candidate attachment sites. For each patellar site, the criteria were applied to identify the matching femoral sites that satisfy them. The matching femoral site with the smallest length change was identified as the optimal femoral site. The desired pattern criterion finds fewer matching sites compared to the isometric criterion. In contrast, the isometric criterion can always find matching sites. The optimal femoral sites obtained vary significantly across different subjects. For most subjects, the optimal sites obtained using the isometric criterion are closer to known anatomical sites than those obtained using the desired pattern criterion. This study reaffirms that MPFL reconstruction is subject specific. The isometric criterion may be more reliable than the desired pattern criterion for determining optimal attachment sites.
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Hartanto, J., Leow, W.K., Yew, A.K.S. et al. Studies of the criteria for determining optimal location of medial patellofemoral ligament attachment sites. Med Biol Eng Comput 59, 693–702 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-021-02330-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-021-02330-0