Effect of Computer Navigation on Complication Rates Following Unicompartmental Knee Arthroplasty

We evaluated whether the complication and revision rates of unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) performed with intraoperative computer-based navigation differ from standard UKAs performed without intraoperative computer-based navigation.

A Medicare database containing administrative claims data from 2005 to 2014 was queried. Patients who underwent a single UKA and had a minimum of 2 years of follow-up were included in the study. Data from 1025 UKAs performed with navigation were compared against 9228 age and gender-matched UKAs performed without it. Postoperative complications were identified using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, codes and evaluated at 30 days, 90 days, and 2 years.

Orthopedic complications after UKA are rare, and the use of navigation did not affect the rate of conversion to total knee arthroplasty at 2-year follow-up (3.8% in navigated UKAs vs 4.7% in standard UKAs, P = .218). There were also no significant differences in the rates of knee arthrotomy at 2-year follow-up (1.3% in navigated UKAs vs 1.6% in standard UKAs, P = .379). The rates of deep vein thrombosis at 90-day follow-up did not significantly differ between the 2 groups (1.4% in navigated UKAs vs 2.0% in standard UKAs, P = .157).

This is one of the first studies to use a large cohort to compare outcomes in computer-assisted surgery-UKA against standard UKAs without navigation. The results, particularly that there was not a difference in the rate of conversion to total knee arthroplasty, are directly relevant to clinical decision-making when surgeons are considering employing navigation during UKA.