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
Within the reconstruction of unicondylar femoral bone defects with morselized bone grafts in revision total knee arthroplasty (TKA), a stem extension appears to be critical to obtain adequate mechanical stability. Whether the stability is still secured by this reconstruction technique in bicondylar defects has not been assessed. Long, rigid stem extensions have been advocated to maximize the stability in revision TKAs. The disadvantage of relatively stiff stem extensions is that bone resorption is promoted due to stress shielding. Therefore, we developed a relatively thin intramedullary stem which allowed for axial sliding movements of the articulating part relative to the intramedullary stem. The hypothesis behind the design is that compressive contact forces are directly transmitted to the distal femoral bone, whereas adequate stability is provided by the sliding intramedullary stem. A prototype was made of this new knee revision design and applied to the reconstruction of uncontained bicondylar femoral bone defects. Five synthetic distal femora with a bicondylar defect were reconstructed with impacted bone grafting (IBG) and this new knee revision design. A custom-made screw connection between the stem and the intercondylar box was designed to lock or initiate the sliding mechanism, another screw (dis)connected the stem. A cyclically axial load of 500 N was applied to the prosthetic condyles to assess the stability of the reconstruction. Radiostereometry was used to determine the migrations of the femoral component with a rigidly connected stem, a sliding stem and no stem extension.Introduction
Materials and Methods
