The Correlation between Posterior Tibial Slope and Maximal Angle of Flexion after Total Knee Arthroplasty

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to evaluate the correlation between the posterior tibial slope and the maximal angle of flexion after total knee arthroplasty. MATERIALS AND METHODS Seventy nine cases (63 patients, 60 females and 3 males), which received total knee arthroplasty with the Nexgen LPS system from Jan 2001 to Jan 2004, were enrolled. We divided all cases into two subsets in two ways. Firstly, group A (up to 10°, 44 cases) and group B (over 10°, 35 cases) were divided according to the mean value of the postoperative posterior tibial slope. Secondly, group α (up to -4°, 39 cases) and group β (over -4°, 40 cases) were divided according to the mean difference between the preoperative posterior tibial slope and the postoperative posterior tibial slope. We compared the maximal angle of flexion between group A and group B, group α and group β, respectively. RESULTS There was no significant difference between group A and group B, and also between group α and group β in terms of maximal angle of flexion. CONCLUSIONS There was no significant correlation between the postoperative posterior tibial solpe and the maximal angle of flexion.