Knee replacement alignment techniques
Understanding your options
The shape and alignment of your knee are unique to you, even when your knee is healthy. Although many legs are almost straight, some are naturally bow-legged (varus) or knock-kneed (valgus).
Knee alignment can also change due to the onset of arthritis. Because of these factors, it may not be ideal to make all knees straight after knee replacement surgery.
To personalize your knee replacement for your specific knee anatomy, your doctor may consider leveraging advanced technologies.
Personalized knee replacement surgery:
Kinematic Alignment (KA)
With kinematic alignment, the surgeon's goal is to resurface your knee, remove the worn cartilage and replace the damaged areas with dedicated implant - avoiding specifying metal/plastic. This can restore your natural knee shape and unique knee alignment that you had when your knee was still healthy.
This is done by carefully matching the knee replacement surgery to each patient’s individual anatomy.
Kinematic alignment knee replacement techniques can potentially make recovery from knee surgery easier and faster10, compared to traditional knee replacement surgery techniques.
Kinematic knee alignment may relieve the patient’s knee pain11 and, possibly improve the biomechanics of walking and daily activities12.
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Traditional knee replacement surgery: Mechanical Alignment (MA)
Traditional knee replacement surgery techniques using Mechanical Alignment, or MA, aims to give every patient straight “knee alignment,” regardless of the patient’s individual neutral alignment prior to surgery.
Therefore, a mechanically aligned total knee replacement frequently changes the natural alignment of your knee and your leg.
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The information contained here is intended for reference only and does not represent or constitute medical advice or a recommendation. Each patient must be examined and advised individually by a physician, and this information does not replace the need for such examination and/or advice in whole or in part. Results are not necessarily typical, indicative, or representative of all patients. Results may vary due to health status, weight, activity, and other variables. Not all patients are candidates for this product and/or procedure. The appropriate postoperative activities and pain management will differ from patient to patient. Talk to your doctor about your condition and about whether the presented procedure is appropriate for you, considering the risks associated. All content is protected by copyright, trademarks and/or other intellectual property rights of Medacta and cannot be used without the written consent of Medacta. In good faith, Medacta asserts that this material does not infringe or misappropriate any intellectual property rights of any third party.
References
10- Goldberg T et al, Ct-Based Patient-Specific Instrumentation Is Accurate for TKA: A Single-Surgeon Prospective Trial, Bone Joint Journal vol. 95-B no. SUPP 34 325, 2013.
11- Goldberg T et al, Ct-Based Patient-Specific Instrumentation Is Effective in Patients With Pre-Existing Hardware about the Knee, Bone Joint Journal vol. 95-B no. SUPP 34 326, 2013.
12- Trong M, Helmy N et al, Improved positioning of the tibial component in unicompartmental knee arthroplasty with patient-specific cutting blocks, Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc. 2014 Jan, Epub ahead of print.