ArticleKnee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA2020
The tibial spine sign does not indicate cartilage damage in the central area of the distal lateral femoral condyle.
Article in Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.
- Influence of bone marrow lesions in the intercondylar eminence of tibia on postoperative outcomes after medial unicompartmental knee arthroplasty -a pilot study.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2026Article
- Radiographic prediction model based on X-rays predicting anterior cruciate ligament function in patients with knee osteoarthritis.Visual computing for industry, biomedicine, and art · 2025Article
- Small change in the arithmetic hip-knee-ankle angle during unicompartmental knee arthroplasty improves early postoperative functional outcomes.Archives of orthopaedic and trauma surgery · 2024Article
- Coronal tibiofemoral subluxation under valgus stress force radiography is useful for evaluating postoperative coronal tibiofemoral subluxation in mobile-bearing UKA.Archives of orthopaedic and trauma surgery · 2023Article
- A radiographic model predicting the status of the anterior cruciate ligament in varus knee with osteoarthritis.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2022Article
- Treatment of Unicompartmental Cartilage Defects of the Knee with Unicompartmental Knee Arthroplasty, Patellofemoral Partial Knee Arthroplasty or Focal Resurfacing.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeA radiographic overlap of the lateral femoral condyle and the lateral tibial spine ('tibial spine sign') might indicate lateral compartment cartilage damage and might be considered a contraindication for unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA). Therefore, the following research questions were asked: (1) does the presence of a 'tibial spine sign' on radiographs correlate with cartilage lesions on the medial aspect of the lateral femoral condyle on corresponding MRIs?; (2) do cartilage lesions on the medial aspect of the lateral femoral condyle indicate cartilage damage in the central area of the distal lateral femur?; and 3) is the 'tibial spine sign' impacted by the degree of varus deformity, the amount of coronal tibiofemoral subluxation or the functional status of the ACL?
methodsOne hundred consecutive knees with varus OA in 84 patients were prospectively included. The relationship of the lateral femoral condyle and the tibial spine was graded from 0 to 2 based on the degree of overlap on AP standing knee radiographs. On MRI, cartilage on the medial aspect of the lateral femoral condyle was assessed. Cartilage in the weight-bearing area of the distal lateral femur was analysed according to the OARSI system.
resultsThe 'tibial spine sign' assessment correlated well with the degree of cartilage damage on the medial aspect of the lateral condyle (r
conclusionA positive tibial spine sign does not indicate histologic cartilage damage in the central area of the distal lateral femur and may not be considered a contraindication for medial UKA. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level III, diagnostic study.
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