Biomechanics and Motion Analysis

Tibial Tray Locking Mechanism of Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA)

Principal Investigator: Kai-Nan An, Ph.D.
Project Coordinator: Lawrence Berglund — berglund.lawrence@mayo.edu

Figure 16:The overall system developed to measure the micro-motion of the tibial tray. This will be tested on our MTS Mini Bionix II machine.

The issues related to tibial inserts and concerns regarding micro-motion of the insert as a source of deleterious polyethylene wear debris is an emerging concern for Total Knee Arthoplasty. Many studies of this micro-motion have been done on retrieved implants from revision surgery or post-mortem. In this study, we quantify performance of tibial tray locking mechanisms for torsional cyclic loading and compare various locking mechanism designs to simulated long term use. Currently, we have developed the fixturing and test methodology (Figure 16) and tests are on going.