Fig. 5From: Deepening trochleoplasty may dramatically increase retropatellar contact pressures- a pilot study establishing a finite element modelContact pressure patterns are superimposed over the trochlea for the healthy control knee and the trochleodysplastic knee pre- and postoperatively at 30°, 45°, 60° and 75° of flexion. The pressure scale is constant for all models. The color assignment is nonlinear to maximize color distribution. As the healthy model represents a left knee, the respective images have been flipped to facilitate comparison. Note the pressure peaks on the lateral trochlea, which is pronounced at 30 to 60° flexion as well as the additional pressure peak at 30 degree flexion on the medial trochlea. We believe that these are evoked by the articular incongruity at the site of the greatest bony correctionBack to article page