Design improvements in Total Knee Arthroplasty

Abstract

The thesis deals with three questions concerning the knee joint and total knee arthroplasty. 1. Are there parameters which can be changed to reduce bone resorption, caused by TKA, without affecting other relevant parameters? A debonded anterior flange of the femoral TKA component reduces bone resorption without jeopardizing the implant fixation. 2. Can the design of the femoral component be changed to obtain more physiological patellar kinematics? The orientation of the natural trochlea is significantly different (even opposite) to the orientation of the patella groove of an implanted femoral TKA component. The patellar kinematics are strongly correlated to the orientation of the trochlea and the groove. A more anatomical groove design is proposed. 3. Is it possible to increase the range of motion without adversely affecting the mechanical performance in high flexion TKA? Dynamic FE models were used. High flexion TKA shows a similar mechanical behavior as conventional TKA in normal flexion (<120 degrees). Furthermore, it shows an improved mechanical behavior in high flexion (>120 degrees). It should be noted that high flexion TKA still creates relatively high stress levels in high flexion even if the prosthetic components are optimized for high flexion.