Impact of surgeon’s hand and ocular dominance on right and left total knee arthroplasty alignment
Postoperative alignment is an important modifiable confounder that contributes to the longevity of total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Studies have shown that surgeon’s handedness can affect surgical performance; however, no studies have assessed the effect of surgeon’s hand or ocular dominance on TKA alignment. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of surgeon’s hand and ocular dominance on coronal plane alignment in TKA. We retrospectively evaluated 138 patients who underwent sequential bilateral TKA by the same surgeon, using the Genesis II PS knee (Smith & Nephew, Memphis, TN). We assessed postoperative alignment by measuring and comparing anatomical tibiofemoral angle (TFA) bilaterally on standard postoperative knee radiographs, as well as Knee Society function and pain scores to determine any functional differences. Lastly, we evaluated whether a crossed hand-ocular dominant surgeon had greater accuracy when performing a TKA on the side opposite their hand dominance compared to uncrossed hand-ocular dominant surgeons. All surgeons were right-hand dominant and there was a significantly larger anatomical TFA on left TKAs (mean [SD], 4.6° [2.8°]) compared to right TKAs (3.8° [2.5°]) (P = 0.003). There was no significant difference between right and left Knee Society function (P = 0.09) and pain scores (P = 0.86). When comparing left TKAs, surgeons with uncrossed hand-ocular dominance (4.5°) performed with equal accuracy compared to surgeons with crossed hand-ocular dominance (4.8°) (2-tailed test = 0.597), indicating no effect of ocular dominance. In summary, hand but not ocular dominance was shown to have significant postoperative alignment effects on TKA.