Introduction

Proper alignment (tibial alignment, femoral alignment, and overall anatomic alignment) of the prosthesis during total knee replacement is critical in maximizing implant survival[7] and to reduce polyethylene wear[1]. Poor overall anatomic alignment of a total knee replacement was associated with a 6.9 times greater risk of failure due to tibial collapse, that varus tibial alignment is associated with a 3.2 times greater risk[2] and valgus femoral alignment is associated with a 5.1 times greater risk of failure[7]. To reduce this variability intramedullary (IM) instruments have been widely used, with increased risk of the fat emboli rate to the lungs and brain during TKA[6] and possible increase of blood loss[4, 5]. Or, alternatively, navigation has been used to achieve proper alignment and to reduce morbidity[3]. Recently, for distal femoral resection, inertial sensors have been coupled to extramedullary (EM) instruments to improve TKA surgery in terms of femoral implant alignment, with respect to femoral mechanical axis, and reduced morbidity by avoidance of IM canal violation. The purpose if this study is to compare blood loss and alignment of distal femoral cut in three cohorts of patients: 1 Operated with inertial based cutting guide; 2 Operated with navigation instruments; 3 operated with conventional IM instruments.

Introduction

The purpose of this study was to examine whether three types of mobile-bearing PCL sacrificing TKA could restore the native knee translation and rotation. The primary hypothesis was that there are differences in knee kinematics and laxity between three different cruciate-substituting TKA designs: 1 with post-cam mechanism, 2 post-cam mechanism based on an inter-condylar ‘third condyle’ concept, 3 anterior stabilized with deep-dished highly congruent tibial insert; specifically, showing different femoral external rotation with flexion, different femoral translation with flexion and different laxity under stress test. The secondary hypothesis was that there is different clinical outcome between the three TKA designs at 2 years follow-up.

Introduction

Providing proper rotational alignment of femoral component in total knee arthroplasty is mandatory to achieve correct kinematics, good ligament balance and proper patellar tracking. Recently functional references, like the function flexion axis (FFA), have been introduced to achieve this goal. Several studies reported the benefits of using the FFA but highlighted that further analyses are required to better verify the FFA applicability to the general clinical practice. Starting from the hypothesis that the FFA can thoroughly describe knee kinematics but that the joint kinematics itself can be different from flexion to extension movements, the purpose of this study was to analyse which factors could affect the FFA estimation by separately focusing on flexion and extension movements.

Introduction

Several methods, based on both functional and anatomical references, have been studied to reach the goal of a proper knee kinematics in total knee arthroplasty (TKA). However, at present, there is still a large debate about which is the most precise and accurate method to achieve the correct rotational implant positioning. One of the main methods already used in TKA to describe the tibiofemoral flexion-extension movement, based on a kinematic technique, thus not influenced by the typical variability related to the identification of anatomical references, is called “functional flexion axis” (FFA) method. The purpose of this study was to determine the repeatability in estimating knee functional flexion axis, thus evaluating the robustness of the method for navigated total knee arthroplasty.

Introduction

The use of a surgical navigation system has been demonstrated to allow to intraoperatively analyze knee kinematics during total knee arthroplasty (TKA), thus providing the surgeon with a quantitative and reproducible estimation of the knee functional behaviour. Recently severak authors used the computer assisted surgery (CAS) for kinematic evaluations during TKA, in particular to evaluate the achievement of a correct joint biomechanics after the prosthesis implantation. The major concern related to CAS is that the movements are usually passively performed, thence without a real active task performed by the subject. Starting from the hypothesis that the passive kinematics may properly describe the biomechanic behaviour of the knee, the main goal of this work was to intra-operatively compare the active kinematics of the limb, analysing a flexion movement actively performed by the patient, and the passive kinematics, manually performed by the surgeon.

Introduction

Several in vitro and in vivo studies have found correspondence between transepicondylar axis (TEA) and functional flexion axis (FFA) in healthy subjects. In addition some studies suggest that the use of FFA for rotational alignment of femoral implant may be more accurate than TEA. Ostheoarthritis (OA) may modify limb alignment and therefore flexion axis, introducing a bias at different flexion ranges during kinematic acquisition. In this study we want to understand whether OA affects somehow the FFA evaluation compared to TEA and whether the FFA could be considered a usable reference for implant positioning for osteoarthritic knees

Introduction

Patellar stability is an important component for a correct kinematic behaviour of the knee that depends on several factors such as joint geometry, muscles strength and soft tissues actions. Patellofemoral (PF) maltracking can results in many joint disorders which can cause pain and mobility alterations. The medial patellofemoral ligament (MPFL) is an important stabilizing structure for the patellofemoral joint. The aim of this study was to analyze patellofemoral kinematics with particular attention to the contribution of MPFL on patella stability.

INTRODUCTION

Osteochondral defects are still a challenge for the orthopaedic surgeon, since most of the current surgical techniques lead to fibrocartilage formation and poor subchondral regeneration, often associated to joint stiffness and/or pain.

Thinking of the ideal osteochondral graft from both the surgical an commercial point of view, it should be an off-the-shelf product; this is the research direction and the explanation for the new biomaterials recently proposed to repair osteochondral defect inducing an “in situ” cartilage regeneration starting from the time of the implantation into the defect site.

For the clinical pilot study we performed, a newly developed nanostructured biomimetic scaffold was used to treat chondral and osteochondral lesions of the knee; its safety and manageability, as much as the surgical procedure reproducibility and the clinical outcome, were evaluated in order to test its intrinsic potential without any cells colture aid.

INTRODUCTION

The menisci play a fundamental biomechanical role in the knee and also help in the maintaining of the articular homeostasis; thus, either a lesion or the complete absence of the menisci can invalidate the physiological function of the knee causing important damages, even at long term. Unfortunately, meniscal tears are often found during the ordinary orthopaedic practice while the regenerative potential of this kind of tissue is very low and limited to its peripheral-vascularized part; this is why the majority of these common arthroscopic findings are not reparable and often the surgeon is almost forced to perform a partial, subtotal or even total meniscectomy, regardless of the well-known consequences of this kind of surgery.