"Patient Specific" Knee Replacements – not so good after all? (Dr. Adrian Bauze)
There are several competing techniques available for knee replacement surgery. For the last eight years some Orthopaedic surgeons and implant companies have been heavily marketing so called ‘patient specific’ knee replacement surgery as providing improved accuracy and outcomes. I have been telling my patients that the evidence is simply not there to justify these claims whereas there is good evidence that computer navigation does reduce revision rates in knee replacements. The verdict is now in and the highly respected Australian Orthopaedic Association National Joint Replacement Registry (AOANJRR) has just reported that this ‘patient specific’ technique actually performs worse than other techniques.
So what does ‘patient specific’ mean?
Also called ‘imaged derived instrumentation’, the technique requires a pre-operative CT or MRI scan which is then digitally sent to implant manufacturer, usually overseas. A technician uses the scan and a 3D printer to create customized cutting jigs which are then sent back to Australia. I always had a few concerns regarding this process. The first is in relation to po...
