Trabecular metal Modular tibial tray knees has better functional outcome than monoblock tibial tray knees: study

Written By : Dr Supreeth D R |Medically Reviewed By : Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli Published On 2022-12-01T20:00:32+05:30 | Updated On 2 Dec 2022 2:17 PM IST

Total knee arthroplasty is one of the significantly evolving procedures with different knee designs available in the market. The continued development of these prosthesis resulted in improvement of the implant survivorship and patient satisfaction.

Safa Abulhail conducted an RCT-based meta-analysis aimed to compare two designs of total knee replacement: the conventional modular and the monoblock trabecular metal tibial trays. The article has been published in "international orthopedics" journal.

The meta-analysis was performed by a literature review according to the PRISMA guidelines. A detailed search of the English literature was done using the PubMed, Medline, CINAHL, Cochrane, Embase, and Google Scholar databases. Only randomized control trials were included in the analysis after ensuring homogeneity. Extracted outcome measures were Knee Society score, Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) score, survivorship, complication rate, and radiostereographic analysis(RSA).

Key findings of the study were:

• Seven randomized control trials with 635 patients were eligible for analysis after they met the inclusion criteria.

• 312 patients received monoblock tibias, and the other 323 patients received modular tibial trays during their total knee arthroplasty surgeries.

• There were statistically significant superiority of the modular knees in the functional Knee Society and WOMAC scores at five years (P=0.003 and 0.05, respectively).

• The modular design was also more stable on RSA at two years (P<0.0001).

The authors concluded that – "Modular and monoblock tibial trays are viable options for TKA with almost equivalent survivorship and complication rates over five years. However, the modular tibial trays were significantly more stable, with lower maximal total point motion at two years; they also had significantly better functional outcomes at two to five years. Further long-term, high-quality studies are required to determine the superiority of either design."

MBBS, Dip. Ortho, DNB ortho, MNAMS

Dr Supreeth D R (MBBS, Dip. Ortho, DNB ortho, MNAMS) is a practicing orthopedician with interest in medical research and publishing articles. He completed MBBS from mysore medical college, dip ortho from Trivandrum medical college and sec. DNB from Manipal Hospital, Bengaluru. He has expirence of 7years in the field of orthopedics. He has presented scientific papers & posters in various state, national and international conferences. His interest in writing articles lead the way to join medical dialogues. He can be contacted at editorial@medicaldialogues.in.

Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli

Dr Kamal Kant Kohli-MBBS, DTCD- a chest specialist with more than 30 years of practice and a flair for writing clinical articles, Dr Kamal Kant Kohli joined Medical Dialogues as a Chief Editor of Medical News. Besides writing articles, as an editor, he proofreads and verifies all the medical content published on Medical Dialogues including those coming from journals, studies,medical conferences,guidelines etc. Email: drkohli@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751