Short-term clinical results of bicruciate-retaining total knee arthroplasty using personalized alignment

BackgroundBicruciate-retaining (BCR) prosthesis has been introduced to recreate normal knee movement by preserving both the anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments. However, the use of BCR total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is still debatable because of several disappointing reports. We have been performing BCR TKAs with personalized alignment (PA). This study aimed to reveal the limb alignment and soft tissue balance of FA-BCR TKAs and compare the clinical outcomes of FA-BCR TKAs with those of unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA).MethodsFifty BCR TKAs and 58 UKAs were included in this study. The joint component gaps of BCR TKA were evaluated intraoperatively and the postoperative hip-knee-ankle (HKA) angle, medial proximal tibial angle (MPTA), and lateral distal femoral angle (LDFA) were measured using full-length standing radiography. The short-term clinical outcomes of BCR TKAs were compared with those of UKA using the scoring system of 2011 Knee Society Scoring (KSS) and the knee injury and osteoarthritis outcome score (KOOS) at an average of 2 years postoperatively (1-4yeras).ResultsThe coronal alignment values of PA-BCR TKA were as follows: HKA angle, 177.9 degrees +/- 2.3 degrees; MPTA, 85.4 degrees +/- 1.9 degrees; and LDFA, 87.5 degrees +/- 1.9 degrees. The joint component gaps at flexion angles of 10 degrees, 30 degrees, 60 degrees, and 90 degrees were 11.1 +/- 1.2, 10.9 +/- 1.4, 10.7 +/- 1.3, and 11.2 +/- 1.4 mm for the medial compartment and 12.9 +/- 1.5, 12.6 +/- 1.8, 12.5 +/- 1.8 and 12.5 +/- 1.7 mm for the lateral compartment, respectively. The patient expectation score and maximum extension angle of PA-BCR TKA were significantly better than those of UKAs.ConclusionsThe short-term clinical outcomes of PA-BCR TKA were comparable or a slightly superior to those of UKAs.

Automated summary

The study reveals that the limb alignment and joint component gaps of FA-BCR TKA are comparable to normal range, and the short-term clinical outcomes of FA-BCR TKA are comparable or slightly superior to those of UKA.