How Does Robotic-Arm Assisted Technology Influence Total Knee Arthroplasty Implant Placement for Surgeons in Fellowship Training?

Implant malalignment during total knee arthroplasty (TKA) may lead to suboptimal postoperative outcomes. Accuracy studies are typically performed with experienced surgeons; however, it is important to study less experienced surgeons when considering teaching hospitals where younger surgeons operate. Therefore, this study assessed whether robotic-arm assisted TKA (RATKA) allowed for more accurate and precise implant position to plan when compared with manual techniques when the surgery is performed by in-training orthopaedic surgical fellows.

Magnetic resonance imaging-based three-dimensional bone shape of the knee predicts onset of knee osteoarthritis: data from the osteoarthritis initiative.

Objective: To examine whether magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based 3-dimensional (3-D) bone shape predicts the onset of radiographic knee osteoarthritis (OA).

Methods: We conducted a case-control study using data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative by identifying knees that developed incident tibiofemoral radiographic knee OA (case knees) during followup, and matching them each to 2 random control knees. Using knee MRIs, we performed active appearance modeling of the femur, tibia, and patella and linear discriminant analysis to identify vectors that best classified knees with OA versus those without OA.