Restoring the anatomical tibial slope and limb axis may maximise post-operative flexion in posterior-stabilised total knee replacements

Abstract

The optimal management of the tibial slope in achieving a high flexion angle in posteriorstabilised (PS) total knee replacement (TKR) is not well understood, and most studies evaluating the posterior tibial slope have been conducted on cruciate-retaining TKRs. We analysed pre- And post-operative tibial slope differences, pre- And post-operative coronal knee alignment and post-operative maximum flexion angle in 167 patients undergoing 209 TKRs. The mean pre-operative posterior tibial slope was 8.6° (1.3° to 17°) and postoperatively it was 8.0° (0.1° to 16.7°). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that the absolute difference between pre- And post-operative tibial slope (p < 0.001), post-operative coronal alignment (p = 0.02) and pre-operative range of movement (p < 0.001) predicted post-operative flexion. The variance of change in tibial slope became larger as the postoperative maximum flexion angle decreased. The odds ratio of having a post-operative flexion angle < 100° was 17.6 if the slope change was > 2°. Our data suggest that recreation of the anatomical tibial slope appears to improve maximum flexion after posterior-stabilised TKR, provided coronal alignment has been restored. © 2013 The British Editorial Society of Bone & Joint Surgery.