Cadaveric Results of an Accelerometer Based Pinless Navigation System for Tibial Resection in Total Knee Arthroplasty

Arthroplasty +Nam, D; Dy, CJ; Cross, MB; Lee, JH; Kim, S; Mayman, DJ Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, New York Senior Author: [email protected] PURPOSE: Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) has proven to be tremendously successful in the management of knee arthritis, but concerns still exist regarding component positioning, as a recent meta-analysis demonstrated 31.8% of TKAs performed with conventional techniques being in greater than 3 degrees of mechanical axis malalignment . Specifically, tibial component malposition has been shown to be present in 11.8% of TKA revisions, and varus malalignment of more than 3° increases the odds of implant failure by roughly 17 times 2,3 Although numerous comparative studies have demonstrated statistically significant improvements in component alignment with computer-assisted surgical (CAS) techniques versus conventional intramedullary and extramedullary alignment systems, concerns over increased operative times, cost, and the learning curve associated with conversion to computer-assisted surgery has limited its widespread acceptance. The objective of this study was to analyze the accuracy and learning curve associated with the use of a hand-held, accelerometer based, extramedullary navigation system when performing a tibial resection for total knee arthroplasty. Our hypothesis is that utilization of this navigation system improves the accuracy of the tibial resection, in both the coronal and sagittal planes, while requiring a short period of time to learn to use the device.