Patella alta and chondromalacia.

The Insall-Salvati method of determining the position of the patella by radiography was employed in fifty-one patients with chondromalacia patellae that had been proved at arthrotomy. There was no definite relationship between chondromalacia patellae and patella alta. There was, however, a highly significant statistical difference between the ratio of the length of the patella to that of the patellar tendon in normal men and women.