Design modifications of high-flexion TKA do not improve short term clinical and radiographic outcomes

Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is an effective method to eliminate pain and restore function in a patient with chronic arthritis of the knee joint. Despite excellent surgical outcomes and longevity of contemporary TKA, deep flexion of the knee after TKA may be still requested by patients, particularly Asians, who are accustomed to squatting and sitting on the floor[1‐3]. Many investigators suggest a multidisciplinary approach such as improving intraoperative technique and postoperative rehabilitation to achieve a greater range of motion (ROM) after surgery. Furthermore, prosthetic design changes have recently been introduced in an effort to gain higher flexion angles.

High flexion prostheses incorporate several common kinematic modifications compared to traditional designs to improve kinematics at higher flexion angles[4‐6]. These devices have an extended sagittal curve and a 2– 3 mm thicker posterior femoral condyle to maintain contact area and reduce stress on the insert at higher flexion angles[7]. The tibial post is located 1–2 mm more posteriorly to guide femoral rollback during high flexion. Furthermore, the cam is extended to the surface of the femoral component posteriorly to increase the articular contact area at higher flexion angles[8]. The anterior face of the polyethylene tibial bearing has also been cut out to reduce patellar tendon impingement during high degrees of flexion.

However, it has been controversial whether the aforementioned theoretical improvements in design result in clinical improvements. The advantages have been demonstrated in some in vivo analyses, and several authors have reported improved postoperative ROM compared with that of the conventional designs[2, 9‐12]. In contrast, other studies have revealed a high rate of aseptic loosening of the femoral component during high flexion TKA and an increased rate of dislocation during a high-flexion angle at the short-term follow up. Thus, more attention was paid to the cam-post engagement design and the amount of posterior condyle resection after reports of high incidence of early loosening and dislocation[10, 13, 14]. Thus, implant manufacturers have been striving to assure implant safety and provide improved designs according to evidence reported in the literature. However, it is still controversial whether the modified implants in high flexion designed knee prostheses can actually affect clinical results.

We determined whether these theoretical improvements in implant design improved postoperative ROM, clinical outcome, and reduced complications such as osteolysis and dislocation following contemporary high flexion TKA. We hypothesized that the design modifications would affect postoperative clinical outcomes and complications after TKA.

We retrospectively investigated 647 patients who underwent primary TKA with two different high flexion prostheses from January 2011 to April 2012 at our institution. All patients were followed up for more than 2 years after surgery.

Two high-flexion designed total knee prostheses (LOSPA, Corentec, Inc. South Korea; Scorpio Non-Restrictive Geometry (NRG), Stryker, NJ, USA) were used. Two prostheses were used bimonthly.

The patients were divided into two groups according to the implant type used. Group 1 (HF-1, Scorpio NRG) consisted of 373 patients who underwent TKA using a high flexion implant, and group 2 (HF-2, LOSPA) was comprised of 274 patients who received a modified prosthesis, which was devised more recently, based on evidence from the literature. Before analysis, we included only those patients who were between 3° of valgus and varus in terms of the mechanical femoro-tibial angle (MFTA) after implantation, which is one of the factors affecting postoperative ROM, early loosening, and outcome[15, 16]. Thus, 323 patients in HF-1 (MFTA: mean 1.2°, standard deviation 1.4°) and 249 patients in HF-2 (MFTA: mean 1.5° and standard deviation 2.3°) were registered in this investigation. No significant differences were observed between the groups with regard to the position of the femoral and tibial components in the coronal and sagittal planes or coronal limb alignment on preoperative radiographs (data not shown). Additionally, patients who had postoperative complications that may have had a negative impact on clinical outcome such as patellar fracture or periprosthetic infection (nine patients in the HF-1 group and 11 patients in the HF-2 group) and patients with complex knees and preoperative ROM < 50°, severe varus or valgus deformity > 20° combined with a bone defect requiring bone grafting were excluded. Consequently, 524 patients (291 in the HF-1 and 233 in the HF-2) were included (Figure 1). No demographic differences were observed between the groups (Table 1). The current study obtained Institutional Review Board approval from our institution (Samsung Medical Center, 2013-06-098) and written informed consent was obtained from all participants.

All operations were performed by a single senior surgeon (one of the authors), and all TKAs were performed using an extramedullary femoral and tibial guide system[17]. All the components were cemented with Simplex P (Howmedica, Rutherford, New Jersey) bone cement, and all the patellae were resurfaced with an all polyethylene dome-shaped component, implanted with bone cement. Quadriceps-strengthening exercises were started immediately after surgery as basic postoperative rehabilitation, and patients began walking with use of a walker on the first postoperative day. The second postoperative day, they started active and passive range-of-motion exercises under the supervision of a physical therapist. Weight bearing high-flexion activities such as squatting were allowed as tolerated.

All clinical and radiographic evaluations were performed by an independent investigator at each follow up visit, which were scheduled at 2 months, 1 year, and annually thereafter. At 1 year follow-up, the maximum flexion range of knee movement was measured by a physician assistant who was blinded to the study design, using a standard goniometer with the patient in the supine position on a table. The Knee Society Knee and Function score (KSKS and KSFS)[13] and the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index (WOMAC) index score were obtained[18, 19]. Surgical complications that occurred within the follow-up period were also recorded. At 2 year follow-up, the incidence of radiological change such as progressive radiolucency was analyzed for evaluation of early loosening after TKA.

Standing anteroposterior (AP), lateral, and Merchant’s view radiographs were obtained at every follow up, and mechanical femorotibial alignment was measured on full limb standing AP radiographs using a picture archiving and communication system (General Electric, Milwaukee, WI, USA). All radiographs were made with standard positioning (directing the patella anteriorly and with a focal film distance of 100 cm), which were analyzed using the Knee Society radiological scoring system to delineate radiolucency around the component[19]. A radiolucent line > 1 mm on the bony contact resurface zone of the femoral component at the 2 year follow up was considered radiolucency to determine how the implant design’s modifications affected radiographic results. We compared the incidences between the two groups.

The HF-2 group did not show greater postoperative flexion of the knee and improved knee scores than that of the HF-1 group. The mean preoperative angle of flexion of the knee was 123° in the HF-1 group and 124° in the HF-2 group, and the mean postoperative angle of flexion improved to 129° and 127°, respectively (P = 0.098) (Table 2). No differences in the postoperative KSKS or total WOMAC scores were observed between the two groups at the 1 year follow-up (P = 0.448 and P = 0.093, respectively). The mean postoperative KSKS were 90.0 in the HF-1 and 89.1 in the HF-2 group, and total WOMAC scores were 23.1 and 24.9 in the HF-1 and HF-2 groups, respectively (Table 3). However, significant differences were observed in the KSFS and stiffness on the WOMAC subscales, The HF-2 group showed more improved results than those of the HF-1 on the KSFS (HF-1, 76.6 vs. HF-2, 81.8, P < 0.001), whereas worse results were observed on the WOMAC stiffness subscale (HF-1, 2.3 vs. HF-2, 2.7, P = 0.025).

Many implant suppliers are considering biomechanical aspects in their implant designs to provide theoretical advantages of a high flex design and achieve clinical improvements. We hypothesized that the design modifications in the high flexion TKA devices would provide increased ROM and result in better clinical outcomes with fewer complications after TKA. Therefore, we conducted a retrospective comparative study to identify whether the modifications in implant design affected clinical and radiological follow-up results.

Many researchers have reported that high-flexion type implants result in improved postoperative ROM compared to that of a standard posterior substitution type prosthesis. One important difference was an additional bone cut from the posterior femoral condyle compared to the regular posterior substituted type design. The femoral component has an elongated and widened cam design to increase stability, maintain spine strength, facilitate rollback, and ultimately increase ROM. In fact, Bellemans et al. reported that the posterior condylar offset decreased by 2 mm, and that maximal obtainable flexion was reduced by a mean of 12.2°[22]. It was previously revealed that high-flex designed prostheses for TKA achieve increased flexion angles from 129.4 to 139°[7, 9‐11]. However our study did not show different result in postoperative ROMs in both groups, which used single radius designed, but different such as posterior radius length, femoral component geometry. We did not fully explain the kinematic differences due to the different geometry of the components but we inferred that a kinematic pattern favoring posterior femoral rollback was not associated with a greater ROM, at least for the high-flexion prosthesis.

Furthermore, our findings did not support the hypothesis that modifying the implant design for the high-flex knee positively affects postoperative clinical outcomes. No significant differences were observed in the KSKS or WOMAC scores, but significant differences were found in the KSFS and the WOMAC subscale stiffness score. Although improved KSFS scores were obtained in the HF-2 group, it may be difficult to acknowledge clinically meaningful results. We put a construction on clinical outcome results in our study to three points. First, clinical outcomes after TKA are affected by several factors such as operative technique, postoperative care and rehabilitation except implanted component’s design[23‐25]. Second, advances have reached in the aspect of intraoperative skill, prosthetic design, and postoperative care in contemporary TKA. Third, parameters used for assessing clinical outcome are probably too crude to reflect slight modifications. Thus, we did not demonstarte that design modifications of high-flex prosthesis would provides improved clinical outcomes.

The device used in the HF-2 group was designed based on several theoretical improvements for reducing the risk of early loosening. The important modifications in the femoral component design were to manage stress during deep flexion of the knee by using extended and augmented posterior condyles[26] and for maintaining bone support by increasing the anterior flange angle 3–5°. However, we found no difference in the incidence rate of radiographic changes such as progressive radiolucency in either groups. No cases of re-operation due to loosening occurred during the short-term follow-up in either group but differences in the incidence rate of radiolucency in zone 4 were observed three and five cases in HF-1 and 2 groups, respectively. Finally, based on retrospective data, we presumed that the change in polyethylene design to heighten jump distance might reduce the dislocation rate after surgery, but we could not detect a correlation between the implant modification, jump distance, and outcomes (Table 4). Arnout et al.[27] reported that a low jump distance can be associated with dislocation in a posterior stabilized knee prosthesis, and low jump distance is comprised of the relative position of the cam, post height, and a rounded post design. However, we suggest that the modification of the cam and post design be reconsidered as a higher jump distance leads to increased susceptibility to dislocation during knee flexion.

Our study had some inherent limitations because of its retrospective design. The rather short follow up period of 2 year was also a limitation to judge early loosening. The parameters for assessing clinical outcome may be too crude to reflect the slight modifications, and we had a female dominant cohort. Nevertheless, we tried to overcome these limitations by comparing a relative uniform high-volume, matched by tight criteria for classifying radiological change such as progressive radiolucency in zone 4[28]. Accordingly, a prospective, randomized study is required to determine whether the implant design modification’s affect outcomes.

Recent modifications in the design of high flexion TKA prostheses are based on evidence in the literature, but we were unable to detect meaningful improvements in short-term clinical and radiographic outcomes after TKA. Surgeons should consider our findings when choosing a prosthesis for their patients.