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The volume of the human knee joint

  • Arthroscopy and Sports Medicine
  • Published:
Archives of Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Introduction

Despite its clinical relevance, particularly in septic knee surgery, the volume of the human knee joint has not been established to date. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine knee joint volume and whether or not it is dependent on sex or body height.

Methods

Sixty-one consecutive patients (joints) who were due to undergo endoprosthetic joint replacement were enrolled in this prospective study. During the operation, the joint volume was determined by injecting saline solution until a pressure of 200 mmHg was achieved in the joint.

Results

The average volume of all knee joints was 131 ± 53 (40–290) ml. The volume was not found to be dependent on sex, but it was dependent on the patients’ height (R = 0.312, p = 0.014). This enabled an estimation of the joint volume according to V = 1.6 height − 135.

Conclusions

The considerable inter-individual variance of the knee joint volume would suggest that it should be determined or at least estimated according to body height if the joint volume has consequences for the diagnostics or therapy of knee disorders.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Orthopaedic Department, Friedrich-Schiller University, Campus Eisenberg, Klosterlausnitzer Straße 81, 07607, Eisenberg, Germany

    Georg Matziolis, Eric Roehner, Christoph Windisch & Andreas Wagner

Authors
  1. Georg Matziolis
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  2. Eric Roehner
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  3. Christoph Windisch
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  4. Andreas Wagner
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Correspondence to Georg Matziolis.

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Matziolis, G., Roehner, E., Windisch, C. et al. The volume of the human knee joint. Arch Orthop Trauma Surg 135, 1401–1403 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00402-015-2272-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00402-015-2272-0

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