Biomechanical Evaluation of Alignment Goals in Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Pilot Feasibility Study

The premise of this pilot feasibility study is that the high rate of patient-reported dissatisfaction after total knee arthroplasty may be caused by the lack of consensus about which alignment goal for total knee arthroplasty is used in patients with varying pre-operative limb alignment. We will collect pre-operative image and movement data for three patient groups (one with a severe varus deformity, one with an average deformity, and one with a severe valgus deformity) scheduled to undergo total knee arthroplasty. The data will be used to create computational models to investigate how the common alignment goals for total knee arthroplasty (TKA) affect the function (i.e. biomechanics) of each patient’s knee. The results of this study will enhance the scientific understanding of the role that component alignment plays in the post-operative biomechanics of the knee and help direct surgeons to select the alignment goal that will best restore knee biomechanics for each patient.