A methodology for the pre-clinical evaluation of patellar implants
by Mariana E. Kersh, Heidi-Lynn Ploeg
International Journal of Experimental and Computational Biomechanics (IJECB), Vol. 1, No. 2, 2009

Abstract: A methodology for the alignment of patellar and femoral components in pre-clinical test of patellar components used in total knee arthroplasty is presented. The component alignment was based on kinematic degrees of freedom that should be considered to recreate clinically relevant patello-femoral contact patterns. A literature review of patellar kinematics revealed that patellar motion occurs in all six degrees of freedom. Retrieval studies reported that deformation was most prominent on the lateral aspect of the patellar component and in contact regions that occur at higher degrees of knee flexion. Based on this review, it was hypothesised that alignment of the patellar and femoral components should incorporate patellar flexion, proximal-distal translation, anterior-posterior translation and medial-lateral translation. The efficacy of the model was tested by evaluating its ability to create physiological contact patterns in patellar components used in total knee arthroplasty. Two types of components were tested: metal-backed dome and all-polyethylene sombrero-shaped of which the dome-shaped components have a higher reported incidence of failure. The component alignment method resulted in higher contact areas in the sombrero-shaped components than the dome-shaped. Contact patterns of both components were compared to contact patterns reported in the literature for natural and implanted patellae and compared favourably.

Online publication date: Mon, 09-Nov-2009

The full text of this article is only available to individual subscribers or to users at subscribing institutions.

 
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.

Pay per view:
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.

Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Experimental and Computational Biomechanics (IJECB):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:

Username:        Password:          Forgotten your password?

Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.

If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com