Patient-specific Templates for Total Knee Replacement. Analysis of the Learning Curve in an Academic Department

An appropriate positioning of a total knee replacement (TKR) is a prerequisite for a good functional outcome and a prolonged survival (1). Navigation systems may facilitate the proper positioning of the implants (2). Patient specific templates have been developed to achieve at least the same accuracy than conventional instruments at a lower cost (3). The learning curve of such systems has not yet been evaluated. We hypothesized that there was no learning curve at our academic department when using patient specific templates for TKR instead of the routinely used navigation system.