The relationship of femoral intercondylar notch width to height, weight, and sex in patients with intact anterior cruciate ligaments.

Intercondylar notch width, femoral bicondylar width, height, and weight of patients with intact anterior cruciate ligaments were measured to determine whether intercondylar notch width was related to body size. A 45 degrees weight-bearing posteroanterior radiograph was obtained for 315 men and 163 women. Notch width and bicondylar width was measured at one-half notch height. Mean notch width for men was statistically significantly wider than for women (17.1 mm versus 14.7 mm, respectively; P<.01). There was no statistically significant correlation between height and notch width for men (r=-0.0019; P=.97) or women (r=0.1308; P=.10). No significant correlation existed between weight and notch width for men (r=-0.0311; P=.58) or women (r=0.0523; P=.51). Analysis of variance showed height and weight were not significant covariates in notch width for either men (P=.44) or women (P=.91). Women of the same height and weight as men had significantly narrower notches (P<.01). There was a statistically significant correlation between wider femoral bicondylar widths and higher weight for men (r=0.694; P<.01) and women (r=0.821; P<.01). Similarly, there was a statistically significant correlation between wider femoral bicondylar widths and increased height for men (r=0.670; P<.01) and women (r=0.785; P<.01). These data demonstrate height and weight are poor predictors of intercondylar notch width. Therefore, one cannot assume body size is a predictor of notch width. Furthermore, because mean notch width does not increase with increasing height and weight, the notch width index calculation cannot accurately reflect the size of the intercondylar notch.