In Vivo Knee Kinematics During Stair and Deep Flexion Activities in Patients With Bicruciate Substituting Total Knee Arthroplasty

Orthopedic surgeons and their patients continue to seek better functional outcomes after total knee arthroplasty. The bicruciate substituting (BCS) total knee arthroplasty design has been introduced to achieve more natural knee mechanics. The purpose of this study was to characterize kinematics in knees with BCS arthroplasty during deep flexion and stair activities using fluoroscopy and model-image registration. In 20 patients with 25 BCS knees, we observed average implant flexion of 128 degrees during kneeling and consistent posterior condylar translations with knee flexion. Tibial rotations were qualitatively similar to those observed in the arthritic natural knee. Knee kinematics with BCS arthroplasty were qualitatively more similar to arthritic natural knees than knees with either posterior cruciate-retaining or posterior-stabilized arthroplasty.