Increased varus-valgus tilting of screw-fixated knee prostheses. Stereoradiographic study of uncemented versus cemented tibial components

Abstract

Twenty-six women and three men (34 knees) with osteoarthrosis were operated with the Miller-Galante I (Zimmer, Warsaw, IN) knee prosthesis. The patients were randomized to either cemented or uncemented fixation of the tibial component. All patients received a TiVaAl alloy tibial plate with four pegs and titanium fiber-mesh undersurface. In the uncemented knees four screws were added. The fixation of the tibial component was determined by roentgen stereophotogrammetric analysis during the first 2 postoperative years. Rotations of the entire tibial component were recorded, as well as proximal or distal translation of various parts of the prosthetic edge corresponding to subsidence and lift-off. The uncemented components displayed almost all rotation and translation during the first 6 weeks, whereas the cemented ones displayed a more gradually increasing migration during the 2 years. Tibial component rotation about the sagittal axis was significantly increased in the uncemented knees throughout the investigation period. This corresponded to increased subsidence medially or laterally in the uncemented knees, whereas lift-off was equal in the two groups. Thin (8.5 mm) uncemented tibial components displayed more subsidence than the thicker ones at the medial or lateral edge 3 months after surgery.