What sports medicine practitioners should know about imaging for femoro-patellar pathologies

Abstract

Clinical imaging in patellofemoral disorders is fundamental for the understanding of the pathology, and to find the adequate treatment option. Anatomical risk factors such as trochlear dysplasia, patella alta, lateralized tibiale tubercle (measured by the tibiale tubercle trochlear groove distance), torsional or coronal lower limb alignment that are the origine of patellar maltracking or even patellar dislocation, can be assessed with high reliability on conventional radiographs combined with MR imaging. The conservative and surgical treatment will highly rely on these findings. The importance of clinical imaging in unspecific anterior knee pain is less clear. It is mostly performed to exclude structural injuries, however is rarely reliable to diagnose the painful structure. Critical appraisal of morphological risk factors is necessary especially in the treatment of anterior knee pain, since fortuitous pathological findings are frequent.