Recently 3D printed custom knee replacement has been available in Australia through Conformis. An MRI is taken of the patient’s knee and is used to create a customized knee replacement specific for the patient. Potential benefits of custom knee replacement include
-Higher functional scores
-Less pain
-A more natural feeling knee compared to an off the shelf prosthesis
-Better stability
Click here to link to the JBJS Orthopaedic Journal examining these potential benefits.
This potential benefit is balanced against a lack of long term data to support the durability of the prosthesis. The Australian Joint Registry records long term data for all joint replacement and as of 2022, no data is available for the Conformis Knee Replacement.
Our practice is regularly assessing new and novel prosthesis, we await early results supporting the durability of the Conformis Total Knee before considering the introduction of this into clinical practice.