Measured resection versus gap balancing technique for femoral rotational alignment: a prospective study

Area of Science:

• Orthopedic Surgery
• Biomechanical Engineering

Background:

• Accurate femoral rotational alignment is crucial for successful total knee arthroplasty (TKA).
• Two common techniques, measured resection and gap balancing, are used to achieve this alignment.
• Understanding their comparative efficacy is important for surgical decision-making.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the effectiveness of the measured resection technique versus the gap balancing technique.
• To evaluate the correction of femoral rotational alignment in primary TKA.

Main Methods:

• A comparative study involving 63 patients undergoing primary TKA.
• Patients were divided into two groups: measured resection (n=34) and gap balancing (n=29).
• Femoral rotational alignment was assessed using computed tomography (CT) before and after surgery.

Main Results:

• No significant difference was observed between the two techniques in correcting femoral rotational alignment.
• Both techniques yielded comparable outcomes, with mean corrections of 3.4º ± 1.4º and 3.5º ± 3.1º respectively (p=0.817).

Conclusions:

• The measured resection and gap balancing techniques are equally effective.
• Both methods achieve comparable correction of femoral rotational alignment in TKA.