Sensor-enabled tibial stem may successfully collect kinematic mobility data after TKA
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A sensor-enabled tibial stem may successfully collect kinematic mobility data to be used for predictive value and better patient care after total knee arthroplasty, according to results.
“What we found was that, compared to wearables, this [sensor-enabled tibial stem] is a highly reliable collection device,” Fred D. Cushner, MD, associate professor at Hospital for Special Surgery and chief surgical officer at Canary Medical, told Healio about results presented at the International Society for Technology in Arthroplasty Annual Congress. “The data is not only collected, but it is also transmitted with over 99% success, and we concluded that we can monitor patients’ walking speed, cadence and other gait parameters reliably when this device is placed.”
Cushner and colleagues retrospectively analyzed data for 27 patients who underwent primary TKA in 28 knees with an anatomically designed knee system implanted with an interconnected sensor-enabled tibial stem extension (canturio te, Canary Medical) between Oct. 4, 2021, and Dec. 16, 2021. Researchers noted the sensor-enabled tibial stem extension contained a 3D accelerometer, a 3D gyroscope, a power source and telemetry transmission capability to collect step count and qualified gait movement data, as well as detailed analysis of limb movement and orientation within a spatial reference frame. Researchers collected medium resolution data from 10-second bouts three times per day during three 5-hour windows. Researchers counted gait cycles as qualified gait cycles if the cycles met certain pre-specified criteria.
Results showed a cumulative number of qualified gait cycles of 16,536. Within the first 6 postoperative weeks, researchers found a mean step count transmission of 100% from postoperative days 2 to 14; 98.9% from postoperative days 15 to 28; and 99.2% from postoperative days 29 to 42. Researchers also noted no adverse events within the 6-week period.
“We are focusing, right now, on recovery, but once these are [implanted] for 1 year, 2 years, 5 years, 10 years – our battery lasts 20 years – we may be able to look at gait patterns for happy patients vs. not happy patients. Who knows, we may see a certain pattern predictive of infection,” Cushner said. “These are all speculative, but we all know that with big data and [artificial intelligence] AI, we find out a lot of things the more patients that have this done.”