A Roentgen Stereophotogrammetric Analysis on Migration of Knee Prostheses. A Randomised Prospective Study of Tantalum Versus Titanium Implants.

Around 4% of total knee arthroplasties (TKA) are revised 15 years after the primary operation, most due to loosening of the implant. The use of uncemented prostheses are expected to extend the fixation time and thereby the years of TKA survival. When a cementless implant is inserted, direct bone ingrowth to the implant depends on a complete primary stabilisation. Movement between the bone and implant will cause a fibrous membrane leading to micromotions. Micromotions can be evaluated by radiophotogrammetric analysis (RSA) in early follow-up and they have been shown to be a prognostic marker for painful loosening of the implant.

Tantalum is a fairly new biomaterial designed with a high and bone-binding porosity. Tantalum has already proven to be a good prosthesis material facilitating fast bone-ingrowth and supplying mechanical qualities in the bone-prosthesis interface that surpasses the qualities of regular prosthesis materials by uncemented method. Titanium on the other hand has been used as a prosthesis coating for years and also promote prosthesis fixation by osteointegration.

The purpose of this study is to compare the early migration of two uncemented total knee implants with different metal coating and fixation method. Only the tibial prosthesis plateau varies in design. One plateau is a 2 pegged tantalum monobloc and the other plateau is a modular titanium fiber-mesh coating with 4 short pegs for screw fixation into the tibia.

Furthermore the extend of the expected micromovements between the polyethylene liner and the metal backing of the titanium plateau will be compared to the stable tantalum monobloc.

Theoretically tantalum should allow a more optimal coating for bone ingrowth, but as primary stability is also important for longterm prostheses survival the method of primary fixation could alså play a role.