Abstract
The aims of this study were to evaluate the outcomes of patients undergoing kinematic alignment (KA) robot-assisted (RA) total knee arthroplasty (TKA) with and without preoperative fixed flexion contracture (FFC) and address whether additional resection of the proximal tibia is required to address FFC. A retrospective review from 147 consecutive patients who received an RA-TKA with KA and a minimum one-year follow-up was performed. Preop and postop clinical and surgical data were collected. Groups were set based on preoperative extension deficits: group 1 (0-4°) (n = 64), group 2 (5-10°) (n = 64) and group 3 (>11°) (n = 27). There were no differences in patient demographics among the three groups. In group 3, the mean tibia resection was 0.85 mm thicker than group 1 (p < 0.05) and the preoperative extension deficit was improved from -17.22° (SD 3.49) preop to -2.41° (SD 4.47) postop (p < 0.05). Our results demonstrate that FFC can successfully be addressed in the RA-TKA with KA and rKA and that no additional femoral bone resection is needed to achieve full extension in patients with preoperative FFC when compared with patients without FFC. Only a slight increase in the amount of tibial resection was observed, but this was less than one millimetre.