Measured Resection versus Gap Balancing Technique for Femoral Rotational Alignment: A Prospective Study

PURPOSE. To compare the measured resection technique and the gap balancing technique for correction of the femoral rotational alignment. METHODS. 57 women and 6 men (mean age, 70 years) with end-stage osteoarthritis and <15o malalignment and <10o flexion contracture of the knee underwent primary total knee arthroplasty through the medial approach using the measured resection technique (n=34) or the gap balancing technique (n=29). Femoral rotational alignment was evaluated before and 7 days after surgery using computed tomography by referencing the 2 posterior condyles to the transepicondylar axis. RESULTS. The 2 groups did not differ significantly in terms of correction of the femoral rotational alignment (3.4o±1.4o vs. 3.5o±3.1o, p=0.817). CONCLUSION. The measured resection and the gap balancing techniques achieved comparable correction of femoral rotational alignment.