No benefit of patient-specific instrumentation in TKA on functional and gait outcomes: A randomized clinical trial

Background: Although some clinical reports suggest patient-specific instrumentation in TKA may improve alignment, reduce surgical time, and lower hospital costs, it is unknown whether it improves pain- and function-related outcomes and gait. Questions/purposes: We hypothesized that TKA performed with patient-specific instrumentation would improve patient-reported outcomes measured by validated scoring tools and level gait as ascertained with three-dimensional (3-D) analysis compared with conventional instrumentation 3 months after surgery. Methods: We randomized 40 patients into two groups using either patient-specific instrumentation or conventional instrumentation. Patients were evaluated preoperatively and 3 months after surgery. Assessment tools included subjective functional outcome and quality-of-life (QOL) scores using validated questionnaires (New Knee Society Score