Background: Various implants of total knee arthroplasty (TKA) are used in clinical practice and each presents specific design characteristics. No implant managed this day to reproduce perfectly the biomechanics of the natural knee during gait.
Objectives: We therefore asked whether (1) differences in tridimensional (3D) kinematic data during gait could be observed in two different designs of TKA on the same patients, (2) if those gait kinematic data are comparable with those of asymptomatic knees and (3) if difference in clinical subjective scores can be observed between the two TKA designs on the same patient.
Methods: We performed knee kinematic analysis on 15 patients (30 TKAs) with two different TKA implant designs (Nexgen, Zimmer and Triathlon, Stryker) on each knee and on 25 asymptomatic subjects (35 knees). Clinical evaluation included range of motion, weight bearing radiographs, questionnaire of joint perception, KOOS, WOMAC and SF-12.
Results: Comparison between TKAs and asymptomatic knees revealed that asymptomatic knees had significantly less knee flexion at initial contact (p < 0.04) and more flexion for most of the swing phase (p between 0.004 and 0.04). Asymptomatic knees also had less varus at loading response, during stance phase and during most of the swing phase (p between 0.001 - 0.05). Transverse plane analysis showed a tendency for asymptomatic knees to be more in internal rotation during stance phase (p 0.02 - 0.04). Comparing both TKA designs, Nexgen(TM) implant had significantly more flexion at the end of swing phase (p = 0.04) compared to knees with the Triathlon(TM) implant. In frontal plane, from initial contact to maximum mid stance angle and between the mean mid stance angle and initial contact Nexgen(TM) TKA had significantly more adduction (varus, p =0.02 - 0.03). Clinical scores of both TKAs did not have significant difference.
Conclusions: TKA with the tested implants did not reproduce natural knee kinematics during gait. In our cohort of patients, TKA implant design translated in limited kinematics differences during gait and on clinical results.
Keywords: arthroplasty; design; function; gait; kinematic; knee replacement; total knee.