Femoral anteversion and arthritis of the knee.

Anteversion and arthritic changes were recorded in 110 well-preserved femora to identify a correlation between knee osteoarthritis and anteversion. Arthritis was recorded as no change (grade 0), osteophytes (grade 1), cysts or erosions (grade 2), and burnishing or eburnation (grade 3). Anteversion was identified by measure of the angle between the axis of the head-neck and the axis of the posterior condyles. There was no relation between anteversion and proximal femoral arthritis but increased arthritis of the distal femur with decreased anteversion (p < 0.04) was identified, establishing a correlation between femoral anteversion and arthritis of the knee.