Mid-term outcomes of computer-assisted total knee arthroplasty

Abstract

Better alignment and similarity of good clinical results at mid-term follow up may provide patients who receive navigation TKA with long-term endurance of their implants. Further studies on longer-term outcomes and functional improvements are required to validate these possibilities.

Long-term subjective outcomes of computer-assisted total knee arthroplasty

“…In this study, although preoperative ROM and coronal mechanical axis in the radiographic evaluations were not significantly different between the two groups, at five years after surgery, the navigation group exhibited a significantly better maximum flexion angle (P<0.05) and better alignment of the coronal mechanical axis in the radiographic evaluations (P<0.05) ( Table 3). Although this study included half the number of patients as a previous report [7], statistically significant differences were identified between the two groups. In a previous report [7], the pain and functional scores in the conventional Knee Society scoring system displayed no significant difference between patients who underwent CA-TKA and those who underwent conventional TKA at fiveyears after surgery.…”

“…A few reports have investigated the mid-term clinical outcome of CA-TKA [7,10,17]. These reports noted better objective outcomes including those for ROM and radiological (15) 9.0±4.5 9.7±5.9 n.s.…”

“…Additionally, early objective clinical outcomes measured using the conventional Knee Society scoring system (1989) after two years were similar between patients operated upon using the navigation system and conventionally operated patients [15]. In mid-term fiveyear clinical outcomes, a significantly better range of motion (ROM) and coronal mechanical axis were reported in the navigation group compared to the manual group [7]. Several authors have also reported slightly better radiographic and clinical outcomes for computer-assisted TKA (CA-TKA) over conventional TKA [3,5,9,20,22,23].…”

“…After five years of clinical follow-up, three patients in each group were excluded for various reasons (inability to contact, three patients; death, two patients; and inability to visit our hospital, one patient) [7]. Among the remaining 27 patients in each group, four patients in each group were excluded because of death.…”

“…The details of the method for collecting objective data have been explained in a previous report [7]. In brief, for radiological measurements, weight-bearing radiographs (a 320-mA, 0.03-s exposure at 80-100 kV, depending on soft-tissue thickness) using the anteroposterior long-leg view were obtained and evaluated to measure the coronal mechanical axis of the long leg before the operation and at five years after surgery.…”