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Computer navigation may lead to less severe flexion contracture after TKA
Among patients who underwent total knee arthroplasty, computer navigation offered an advantage in the intraoperative assessment of flexion contracture and led to less severe postoperative flexion contracture, as well as smaller proportion of outliers, according to study results.
Researchers retrospectively compared two groups of 235 consecutive patients who underwent total knee arthroplasty (TKA) matched for age and gender. Patients in group 1 underwent conventional TKA and patients in group 2 underwent navigated TKA. The researchers prospectively collected range of motion, mechanical axes, Knee Society Scores, Oxford Knee Scores and SF-36 scores and compared the two groups preoperatively and at 2 years following TKA.
At 2 years following primary surgery, results showed significantly better flexion contracture among patients undergoing navigated TKA, with a mean flexion contracture of 1° vs. a mean flexion contracture of 6° among patients who underwent conventional TKA, according to the researchers.
When the prevalence of flexion contracture was stratified and compared between the two groups, the researchers also found a significantly larger proportion of conventional TKA patients had a flexion contracture of more than 5° vs. navigated TKA patients. However, no patients in the navigated TKA group had a flexion contracture of more than 10°, according to the researchers.
Disclosure: The authors have no relevant financial disclosures.