Pressure erosion of the femoral trochlea, patella baja, and altered patellar surfaces.
As knee flexion increases, so do tendofemoral and patellofemoral compression forces. Three cases of long-standing uncorrected flexion contractures of the knees are presented that resulted in marked erosion of the femoral trochlea, patella baja, and remodeled patellar articular surfaces likely reflecting increased angles of flexion. It is probable that the deep femoral grooves are the result of adaptation under high-level persistent contact loads from the quadriceps tendon. These examples expand our knowledge of bone remodeling and offer information of potential use in studying ancient skeletal samples.
A case of soft tissue gallium uptake in a paraplegic patient with biopsy-proven fat necrosis of both lower extremities is presented. Superficial bilateral lower extremity uptake has not been previously reported in the imaging literature, nor has fat necrosis in this unusual distribution been reported in the spinal cord population.