Articular surface mounted navigated total knee arthroplasty improves the reliability of component alignment

Area of Science:

• Orthopedic surgery
• Biomedical engineering
• Medical technology

Background:

• Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is a common procedure for knee osteoarthritis.
• Accurate component alignment is crucial for TKA success.
• Navigation systems aim to improve surgical precision.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare early functional outcomes between navigated and non-navigated TKA.
• To assess patient satisfaction and general health improvements.
• To evaluate the reliability of component alignment in navigated vs. non-navigated TKA.

Main Methods:

• Prospective study comparing 123 patients with ASM navigation and 172 without.
• Collected Oxford knee scores (OKS) and SF-12 scores pre- and post-operatively.
• Assessed patient satisfaction and implant alignment (coronal and sagittal planes).

Main Results:

• No significant differences in OKS, SF-12 scores, or patient satisfaction at one year.
• Non-navigated TKA showed significantly more outliers in femoral coronal alignment (OR 4.5) and tibial slope (OR 8.3).

Conclusions:

• ASM navigation significantly reduces outliers in femoral and tibial component alignment.
• Short-term functional outcomes are not influenced by the surgical technique.
• ASM navigation is recommended for surgeons seeking to minimize alignment outliers.