Relationship between Tibial Bone Defect and Extent of Medial Release in Total Knee Arthroplasty

PURPOSE To understand the relationship between tibial bone defect and extent of medial release in total knee arthroplasty. MATERIALS AND METHODS We evaluated 32 knees in 22 patients with variable degrees of tibial bone defect on medial plateau has undergone total knee arthroplasty. In this study, 31 cases had been diagnosed as degenerative osteoarthritis and 1 case was osteonecrosis. We excluded cases with infection, traumatic arthritis, or neuropathic joints. With regard to gender, 29 cases were female and 3 cases were male. The following relationships were analyzed: preoperative degrees of tibial bone defect and varus deformity; the femorotibial angle of both weight-bearing whole extremity radiogram, distractive stress radiogram, and the extent of medial release. RESULTS Average tibial bone defect was 9.8±4.1 mm. Average femorotibial angle on weight-bearing whole extremity radiograph was varus 10.0°±6.2°. Average femorotibial angle on distractive stress radiograph was varus 0.7°±4.6°. Statistically the extent of medial release showed no significant relationship with the degree of tibial bone defect and femoro-tibial angle of whole extremity radiogram. However, it revealed a statistically significant relationship with the femorotibial angle on distractive radiogram (r=0.465, p=0.007). CONCLUSIONS Preoperative distractive stress radiograph might be a useful method to predict the extent of intraoperative medial release during total knee arthroplasty.