The most important finding of this study is that a higher ratio of ideal moving trajectories were observed in the study group with less contiguity of the implants on the anteroposterior knee extension X-ray. Therefore, we considered that more optimal bearing movement can be achieved with this kinematic alignment technique. The recommended movement trajectory of the mobile bearing was 1 mm away from the lateral wall, without contact, and not substantially separated from the wall. However, multiple studies have shown that most movement patterns are characterized as follows: during the whole motion of knee extension, the bearing is parallel to the lateral wall from 90° to 60° but is more likely to become separated from the lateral wall from 60° to 0° [9, 12]. Other studies have shown that the bearing rotation is easier when the contiguity between the margin of the bearing and the wall increases, which might be one of the causes of bearing dislocation [1, 13]. Therefore, close attention has been given to methods of improving the bearing movement trajectory. Most previous studies focused on the matching and alignment of the tibial and femoral prosthesis to prevent bearing tilt and impingement on the lateral wall [12, 14–16]. However, Kawaguchi et al. [9] reported that the ratio of the optimal bearing movement was unsatisfactory, which is similar to the finding in our control group. Our kinematic alignment technique was modified from the conventional surgical technique using MP instrumentation. The tibial resection was the same as that described in the Oxford operation manual. However, determination of the femoral implant position was not performed according to the intramedullary rod and intramedullary link; instead, we used the tibial cut plane and overall alignment as references for femoral bone preparation. Therefore, this method could also be called the extramedullary technique. Our past research showed that UKA performed using this technique can be as reliable and accurate as the conventional technique in terms of the prosthesis position but that it has a shorter operating time, less blood loss, and more rapid recovery without intramedullary interruption [10]. Moreover, the results of the present study showed that this method can improve the bearing movement trajectory, which is another advantage.
The principle of this kinematic alignment technique is easy to understand. Determination of the femoral condyle midline and line A ensured that the central line of the femoral prosthesis was located on the midline of the gauge when the knee was flexed and extended. The lateral margin of the gauge was close to the lateral wall of the tibial osteotomy surface, which ensured stability of the distance between the lateral margin of the femoral component and the wall of the tibial component during knee flexion and extension. Our radiographic assessment showed less contiguity of the femoral and tibial components in the study group than in the control group, which also confirmed that the reference line A could reduce the separation of the components when the knee was extended. Koh et al. [8] reported that the introduction of MP instrumentation could reduce the contiguity from 9.6 to 6.5 mm. Our technique could further reduce the contiguity to 4.8 mm. However, if the distance between the femoral and tibial components is too small, impingement will occur, which could lead to tilting or even dislocation of the bearing [15, 17].
This technique is different from the calipered kinematic alignment technique described by Rivière et al. [18], in which the tibial cut plane is determined according to the flexion and extension axis of the medial femoral condyle. Our method is indeed a hybrid technique of both measurement resection of the tibia and kinematic alignment resection of the femur, and the goal of this technique is to increase the compliance of the position of the femoral prosthesis with the tibial resection surface. Therefore, this technique mainly depends on an accurate tibial cut, which is also very important to the bearing trajectory. If there are defects in tibial resection, especially rotational errors, the tibial component might be incorrectly chosen and positioned with potential consequences of poor bearing motion as well as mismatch between the femoral and tibial components [12, 16]. Inui et al. [15] reported that when the femoral component was too close to the tibial lateral wall, impingement could hardly be avoided with tilting of the bearing. They also reported a case of lateral dislocation of the bearing and suggested that the mismatch of a larger femoral component with a smaller tibial component might have been the cause [17]. If the tibial resection is not ideally performed, this kinematic alignment technique is not recommended. However, the position of the tibial component can be improved by a modified keel slot preparation technique introduced by Hiranaka et al. [19], which could be used as a remedy for poor tibial osteotomy.
Theoretically, this method relies on a properly chosen feeler gauge to reconstruct the ligament tension of the knee before resection of the posterior femoral condyle. Ideally, the axis of the femoral component should be perpendicular to the surface of the tibial component, which means the convergence should be close to 0. However, our radiographic evaluation showed that this measurement in the study group was not different from that in the control group. One possible explanation is that the intraoperative medial collateral ligament tension determined by the feeler gauge might not be the same as that after implantation of the final prosthesis.
This study has two main limitations. First, the patients were followed up for an average of 2 years only, and there were no revision cases. A further study with longer follow-up is needed to clarify the difference in clinical outcomes between the two surgical techniques. Second, this was a single-center study with all procedures performed by the same senior surgeon; therefore, it was not widely representative. Multiple surgeons or even multicenter studies are needed to clarify the effectiveness of this technique.