High-flexion knee implants have been developed to accommodate a large range of motion (ROM > 120°) after total knee arthroplasty (TKA). In a recent follow-up study, Han et al. [1] reported a disturbingly high incidence of femoral loosening for high-flexion TKA. The femoral component loosened particularly at the implant-cement interface. Highly flexed knee implants may be more sensitive to femoral loosening as the knee load is high during deep knee flexion [2], which may result in increased tensile and/or shear stresses at the femoral implant fixation. The objective of this study was to analyse the load-transfer mechanism at the femoral implant-cement interface during deep knee flexion (ROM = 155°). For this purpose, a three-dimensional finite element (FE) knee model was developed including high-flexion TKA components. Zero-thickness cohesive elements were used to model the femoral implant-cement interface. The research questions addressed in this study were whether high-flexion leads to an increased tensile and/or shear stress at the femoral implant-cement interface and whether this would lead to an increased risk of femoral loosening. The FE knee model utilized in this study has been described previously [3] and consisted of a proximal tibia and fibula, TKA components, a quadriceps and patella tendon and a non-resurfaced patella. For use in this study, the distal femur was integrated in the FE model including cohesive interface elements and a 1 mm bone cement layer. High-flexion TKA components of the posterior-stabilised PFC Sigma RP-F (DePuy, J&J, USA) were incorporated in the FE knee model following the surgical procedure provided by the manufacturer. A full weight-bearing squatting cycle was simulated (ROM = 50°-155°). The interface stresses calculated by the FE knee model were decomposed into tension, compression and shear components. The strength of the femoral implant-cement interface was determined experimentally using interface specimens to predict whether a local interface stress-state calculated by the FE knee model would lead to interface debonding.Introduction
Materials & methods
