Evaluation of benefits and accuracy of a mobile application in planning total knee arthroplasties

Objective

To evaluate the usefulness of an application when planning total knee arthroplasties (TKA), besides the accuracy when measuring the anatomical-mechanical femoral angle (AMFA), comparing, also, the time spent during planning a TKA manually and by using the application.

Methods

An interdisciplinary team involving health and computer science areas established activities in order to develop the application. After development, 24 physicians underwent an application usability test. Each one planned a primary total knee arthroplasty (TKA) initially, in a conventional manner and then by using the application. Data concerning AMFA measurement and time spent during planning were collected, in both manners. The Mann–Whitney and Wilcoxon tests were used to evaluate statistical significance related to angle and time.

Results

Users considered it important checking AMFA and drawing the bone cut lines orthogonal to the mechanical axis, when planning TKAs. They also assessed that the application could be useful for training surgeons and for specialists. There was no statistically significant difference between the AMFA, as measured by the application and by the conventional manner. The planning time was shorter when the application was used (39% of the time spent manually).

Conclusions

The application has proved to be useful in planning TKAs and has revealed accuracy when measuring the AMFA when it was compared to the manual form of preoperative planning. The application was able to reduce planning time by more than half and it demonstrated reliability in measuring the AMFA.