Can Achilles tendon be used as a new distal landmark for coronal tibial component alignment in total knee replacement surgery? An observational MRI study

Background: Computer Navigation in Total Knee Replacement (TKR) has completed more than a decade since its inception. From that time, numerous studies have been done to see its effect on the variables of surgery and its outcome. Some studies have shown that it is definitely beneficial while others have negated its superiority over conventional techniques. This is an early outcome study on the results of navigation TKR in terms of alignment and clinical outcome at three years post-operatively. Methods: In the present study, 128 patients who had undergone navigation TKR (128 TKR) between January 2006 and November 2009 were included. The navigation system used was orthoPilot®. Patients were assessed post-operatively at one and three year using knee society score (KSS) and knee function score (KFS). All patients completed one year follow-up and 55 patients completed three year follow-up. From 128 patients, 40 navigated TKR patients operated between November 2007 and 2009 and were compared with 40 patients operated by conventional TKR operated between July 2007 and December 2008. Results: The mean KSS at 1 year post-operatively was 85.60 and at 3 years was 85.87. The mean KFS at 1 year post-operatively was 69.30 and at 3 years was 68.00. There was no statistically significant difference between navigation TKR and conventional TKR in terms of anatomical femoro-tibial alignment, femoral component alignment in coronal and sagittal plane and tibial component alignment in coronal plane. However, there was statistically significant difference between tibial component alignment in sagittal plane (p = 0.000) between both the groups. Conclusion: Computer navigation TKR affords a possibility to place both the femoral and tibial component very precisely without the risk of any greater axis deviation from ideal value. It helps in reducing the outliers in alignment of the limb and that of component and that improves the overall implant survival for a long time post-operatively.

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Autologous blood transfusion in total knee replacement surgery

Vojnosanitetski pregled ◽

10.2298/vsp1303274l ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 70 (3) ◽

pp. 274-278 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Mirka Lukic-Sarkanovic ◽

Ljiljana Gvozdenovic ◽

Dragan Savic ◽

Miroslav Ilic ◽

Gordana Jovanovic

Keyword(s):

Blood Transfusion ◽

Total Knee Replacement ◽

Knee Replacement ◽

Autologous Blood ◽

Allogeneic Blood ◽

Autologous Blood Transfusion ◽

Knee Replacement Surgery ◽

Replacement Surgery ◽

Total Knee Replacement Surgery ◽

Total Knee

Background/Aim. Total knee replacement (TKR) surgery is one of the most frequent and the most extensive procedures in orthopedic surgery, accompanied with some serious complications. Perioperative blood loss is one of the most serious losses, so it is vital to recognize and treat such losses properly. Autologous blood transfusion is the only true alternative for the allogeneic blood. The aim of this study was to to examine if autologous blood transfusion reduces usage of allogenic blood in total knee replacement surgery, as well as to examine possible effect of autologous blood transfusion on postoperative complications, recovery and hospital stay of patients after total knee replacement surgery. Methods. During the controlled, prospective, randomised study we compared two groups of patients (n = 112) with total prosthesis implanted in their knee. The group I consisted of the patients who received the transfusion of other people?s (allogeneic) blood (n = 57) and the group II of the patients whose blood was collected postoperatively and then given them [their own (autologous) blood] (n = 55). The transfusion trigger for both groups was hemoglobin level of 85 g/L. Results. In the group of patients whose blood was collected perioperatively only 9 (0.9%) of the patients received transfusion of allogeneic blood, as opposed to the control group in which 98.24% of the patients received the transfusion of allogeneic blood (p ? 0.01). The patients whose blood was collected stayed in hospital for 6.18 days, while the patients of the control group stayed 7.67 days (p < 0.01). Conclusion. Autologous blood transfusion is a very effective method for reducing consumption of allogenic blood and thus, indirectly for reducing all complications related to allogenic blood transfusion. There is also a positive influence on postoperative recovery after total knee replacement surgery due to the reduction of hospital stay, and indirectly on the reduction of hospital costs.

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