Measuring the tibiofemoral space

Background: the assessment of the current status and progression of gonarthrosis needs both clinical and imaging methods, the last ones require from medical personnel training, more time and acquaintance with digital technology. Objective: to describe two methods to measure the tibiofemoral space in patients suffering knee osteoarthritis. Methods: the information search and analysis was carried out from November 1 to December 26, 2018. The search terms in PubMed, Medline, Hinari and Scielo databases using the EndNote software were: tibiofemoral space measure AND knee osteoarthritis, knee joint space narrowing AND knee osteoarthritis, and knee joint space width. A total of 272 articles were obtained, from which we selected 31, 27 of them from the last five years. Results: here we show that measuring methods of the tibiofemoral space can be done with plain radiographies and digital ones, and also the radiographic image for the assessment, grading and analysis of the tibiofemoral joint space. We described two methods of measurement step by step. Conclusions: the tibiofemoral space measurement is important to establish the status of patients with gonarthrosis, and to evaluate by means of imagenology the outcome of conservative and surgical treatments of the disease. DeCS: OSTEOARTHRITIS, KNEE/diagnostic imaging; OSTEOARTHRITIS, KNEE/surgery; FEMUR/anatomy TIBIA/anatomy RADIOGRAPHIC IMAGE ENHANCEMENT.