Coronal Plane Stability Before and After Total Knee Arthroplasty

Abstract

The success of total knee arthroplasty depends in part on proper soft tissue management to achieve a stable joint. It is unknown to what degree total knee arthroplasty changes joint stability. We used a surgical navigation system to in traoperatively measure joint stability in 24 patients under going primary total knee arthroplasty to address two questions: (1) Is the total arc of varus-valgus motion after total knee arthroplasty different from the arc of varus-valgus motion in an osteoarthritic knee? (2) Does total knee arthroplasty produce equal amounts of varus/valgus motion (ie, is the knee balanced)? We observed no difference between the total arc of varus-valgus motion before and after total knee arthroplasty; the total amount of motion was unchanged. On average, osteoarthritic knees were unbalanced but were balanced after prosthesis implantation. We found a negative correlation between the relative amount of varus/valgus motion in extension before and after prosthesis implantation in extension and a positive correlation between how well the knees were balanced after prosthesis implantation in extension and in flexion. Our data suggest immediately after implantation knees retain a greater than normal amount of varus-valgus motion, but this motion is more evenly distributed.

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