USE OF COMPUTER AIDED SURGERY IN PATELLO-FEMORAL JOINT ARTHROPLASTY

Abstract

Introduction: Computer aided surgery has been used in orthopaedics for over a decade now. It has mainly found its use in knee and hip arthroplasty. Its use in other areas is still under development. There has been only one published report in literature on its use in patello femoral joint replacement arthroplasty. We did a study to evaluate its use in patello-femoral arthroplasty.

Methods: A retrospective group of patients was selected who had patello-femoral joint arthroplasty under one of the authors with non navigated standard technique. This was compared with another group which was followed prospectively and had it done with minimally invasive technique using computer aided navigation. The main factors compared were blood loss, incision size and hospital stay.

Results: Thirteen patients had patello-femoral arthroplasty. Seven had with aid of computer aided navigation technique. There was a distinct advantage of computer aided surgery in blood loss, hospital stay and size of incision. It had no bearing on the surgical outcome in short term. Long term results are still awaited.

Conclusion: While our study is only short term and does not have many patients, there seems to be a distinct advantage in terms of hospital stay and size of incision.