BMJ  2005;330:197 (22 January), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7484.197-b

Letter

Computer assisted knee arthroplasty is here today

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—Gidwani et al summarise the orthopaedic options for painful arthritis of the knee.1 As they say, computer assisted surgery is not standard practice for most orthopaedic surgeons in the United Kingdom. Many cite a lack of long term follow up data for this technique to justify their reluctance to embrace this technology.

However, navigated arthroplasty surgery has been widely validated in the orthopaedic literature.2 3 Lower limb mechanical alignment is one of the principal factors determining the survival of a total knee arthroplasty. As many as 10-15% of all knee prostheses ultimately require revision, many because of poor quality placement of the prosthetic components.4 The failure rate of poorly aligned implants is more than twice that of well aligned implants.5

The main reason for poor alignment arises from the difficulty of using anatomical reference points, and human judgment alone cannot ensure reproducible alignment. Mechanical alignment outcomes obtained using computer . . . [Full text of this article]

Graeme Holt, specialist registrar, trauma and orthopaedic surgery

graemeholt@btinternet.com, Hairmyres Hospital, East Kilbride, Glasgow G75 8RG

A G Gregori, consultant trauma and orthopaedic surgeon

Hairmyres Hospital, East Kilbride, Glasgow G75 8RG


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Relevant Article

The orthopaedic approach to managing osteoarthritis of the knee
Sam Gidwani and Adrian Fairbank
BMJ 2004 329: 1220-1224. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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