Development of a force amplitude- and location-sensing device designed to improve the ligament balancing procedure in TKA.
To improve the ligament balancing procedure during total knee arthroplasty a force-sensing device to intraoperatively measure knee joint forces and moments has been developed. It consists of two sensitive plates, one for each condyle, a tibial base plate and a set of spaces to adapt the device thickness to the patient-specific tibiofemoral gap. Each sensitive plate is equipped with three deformable bridges instrumented with thick-film piezoresistive sensors, which allow accurate measurements of the amplitude and location of the tibiofemoral contact forces. The net varus-valgus moment is then computed to characterize the ligamentous imbalance. The developed device has a measurement range of 0-500 N and an intrinsic accuracy of 0.5% full scale. Experimental trials on a plastic knee joint model and on a cadaver specimen demonstrated the proper function of the device in situ. The results obtained indicated that the novel force-sensing device has an appropriate range of measurement and a strong potential to offer useful quantitative information and effective assistance during the ligament balancing procedure in total knee arthroplasty.
Crottet
Denis
D
M E Müller Research Center, University of Bern, 3014 Bern, Switzerland. denis.crottet@memcenter.unibe.ch
Maeder
Thomas
T
Fritschy
Daniel
D
Bleuler
Hannes
H
Nolte
Lutz P
LP
Pappas
Ion P
IP
D019645:Arthroplasty, Replacement, Knee / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D002102:Cadaver; D003198:Computer Simulation; D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D008022:Ligaments / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D008954:Models, Biological; D017755:Prosthesis Fitting / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D014160:Transducers, Pressure