Development of a force amplitude- and location-sensing device designed to improve the ligament balancing procedure in TKA

To improve the ligament balancing procedure during total knee arthroplasty a force-sensing device to intraoperatively measure knee joint forces and moments has been developed. It consists of two sensitive plates, one for each condyle, a tibial base plate and a set of spaces to adapt the device thickness to the patient-specific tibiofemoral gap. Each sensitive plate is equipped with three deformable bridges instrumented with thick-film piezoresistive sensors, which allow accurate measurements of the amplitude and location of the tibiofemoral contact forces. The net varus-valgus moment is then computed to characterize the ligamentous imbalance. The developed device has a measurement range of 0-500 N and an intrinsic accuracy of 0.5% full scale. Experimental trials on a plastic knee joint model and on a cadaver specimen demonstrated the proper function of the device in situ. The results obtained indicated that the novel force-sensing device has an appropriate range of measurement and a strong potential to offer useful quantitative information and effective assistance during the ligament balancing procedure in total knee arthroplasty.