No clinical benefit from gender-specific total knee replacement implants: a systematic review

Area of Science:

• Orthopedic surgery
• Biomedical engineering

Background:

• Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is a common treatment for severe knee osteoarthritis.
• Women constitute nearly 60% of TKA patients and have distinct anatomical differences.
• Gender-specific (GS) implants were developed to address female anatomy, but their clinical benefit is debated.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review recent literature on the clinical benefits of gender-specific implants versus conventional unisex implants in TKA for women.
• To assess clinical outcomes, radiological results, and complications associated with GS implants.

Main Methods:

• Systematic review of prospective randomized controlled trials (PRCTs).
• Included studies compared GS implants with conventional implants in TKA.
• Minimum follow-up of two years for all included studies.

Main Results:

• Three high-quality PRCTs (2010-2012) were included.
• No superior clinical outcomes were found for GS implants compared to conventional implants.
• GS TKA demonstrated a reduced rate of femoral component overhang in female patients.

Conclusions:

• Gender-specific implants in female TKA showed no clinical advantage over standard unisex implants, despite lower overhang rates.
• Both GS and conventional implants yielded good clinical results with significant improvements.
• Further research is necessary to clarify the role of various GS implant designs in TKA.