Statistical shape modeling of femur shape variability in female patients with hip dysplasia

Although increasing evidence suggests that abnormal femur geometry in developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) may contribute to intra-articular damage and the development of hip osteoarthritis, a comprehensive 3D description of femoral abnormalities in DDH remains incomplete. Statistical shape modeling (SSM) was used to quantify three-dimensional (3D) geometric variation among femurs in female patients with DDH and control subjects. SSM correspondence points (n = 8,192) were placed on each femur using a gradient descent energy function to derive mean DDH and control femoral shapes and principal component analysis (PCA) was then used to describe shape variation. PCA results were associated with common 2D radiographic measures of femur shape using general linear models. For patients with DDH, the first eight principal components (modes) captured 90.9% of the cumulative variance accounted for (VAF). Notably, mode 2 captured 23.6% VAF and described variation in femoral version, the neck-shaft angle, and femoral neck length, while mode 3 captured 16.4% VAF and described variation in femoral version, femoral head size, and femoral offset. SSM captured complex geometric deformities in DDH, which may not be fully described by 2D measures of the acetabulum and proximal femur alone. By determining the primary shape variations among femurs in cases of DDH, SSM may further understanding of pathologies on the femoral side of dysplastic hips, in context with more commonly recognized acetabular deformities.