OBJECTIVES :

To analyse patient evolution after total knee arthroplasty using biomechanical measures and patient reported outcome measures (PROMs).

METHODS :

The longitudinal clinical study was conducted in collaboration with the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (RHB) and the Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology (COT) services of the Consorcio Hospital General Universitario de Valencia (CHGUV), Spain.

A biomechanical functional assessment laboratory was set up in the hospital facilities, in addition to implementation of a functional assessment protocol for 25 patients who were to undergo primary knee replacement surgery.

The study follows participants in four phases: prior to surgery, and at 3, 6 and 12 months.

The protocol for the evaluation of the participants included, among others, patient-reported outcome measures (KPS, EQ-VAS, QALY, and WOMAC) and gait measurements (step speed, step width and stride length).

The average and standard deviation of each of these biomechanical variables are calculated for the established time points.

RESULTS

Gait speed is the only biomechanical parameter that shows an improvement in the patient's functionality.

EQ-5D index score average by stage were: pre-surgery 0.57 (0.20 SD), 3 months after 0.85 (0.12 SD) and 6 months after 0.74 (0.12). WOMAC measurement shoved similar trend, pre-surgery 36.96 (17.4 SD), 3 months after 12.75 (5.06 SD) and 6 months after 10 (3.11).

In the intermediate period (between 3-6 months after surgery), there are no biomechanical variables that show a clear improvement in the patient's functionality and PROMs showed only a small improvement in the patient’s quality of life.

CONCLUSIONS

All PROMs showed a clear improvement with respect to the patient's quality of life before the intervention.

Further research is needed to analyse the correlation between the gait parameters and the patient-reported outcome measures.