TOTAL KNEE ARTHROPLASTY WITH CONVENTIONAL INSTRUMENTATION OR WITH A COMPUTER-ASSISTED SYSTEM

Purpose: Most revisions of total knee arthroplasty (TKA) occur before the fifth year. The leading cause is prosthesis malalignment. Computer-assisted surgery is presented as a technique which improves implantation precision. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the radiographic quality of computer-assisted TKA implantation in comparison with conventional implantation.Material and methods: A prospective randomised study was conducted with a total of 82 patients assigned randomly to conventional instrumentation (group 1) or computer-assisted implantation (group 2). The two groups were comparable for age, gender, body mass index, side, and preoperative femorotibial angle (HKA). The same surgeon operated all patients using the same cemented posterostabilised prosthesis. Radiographically, the HKA, the theta angle between the mechanical and anatomic femoral axis, the angle of the femoral and tibial implantations, and the posterior tibial slope were noted. All measures were taken by an independent operator ...