Patellar position and alignment may be measured on routine axial radiographs by various
techniques; however, the agreement and reliability of such measurements with a resurfaced
patella remain unknown. This study evaluated the range and reliability of lateral
patellar tilt and lateral patellar displacement following total knee arthroplasty
(TKA) with a resurfaced patella among three observers on 45° Merchant view in 139
TKAs. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICCs) were used to evaluate intraobserver
agreement (IOA) and inter-rater reliability (IRR). IRR was high between each of the
observers for lateral patellar tilt (ICC = 0.8) and lateral patellar displacement
(ICC = 0.87). IOA was also high upon repeat measurement for the same observer for
lateral patellar tilt (ICC ≥ 0.90) and lateral patellar displacement (ICC ≥ 0.86).
Therefore, lateral patellar tilt and lateral patellar displacement are reproducible
measurements of patellar position on a Merchant axial radiograph following a well-functioning
TKA with a resurfaced patella.
Keywords
total knee arthroplasty - patellar resurfacing - patellar tilt - patellar displacement