Morbidity of navigated vs conventional total knee arthroplasty: a retrospective review of 327 cases.

A retrospective review of 146 patients undergoing navigated total knee arthroplasty (NTKA) and 181 patients undergoing conventional total knee arthroplasty (CTKA) was undertaken to establish whether NTKA, with its avoidance of intramedullary instrumentation, resulted in less early postoperative morbidity than CTKA. Cohorts were well matched in terms of age, sex, body mass index, and American Society of Anesthesiologists grade. Statistically significantly longer operative and tourniquet times were seen with NTKA. Blood transfusion requirements were significantly higher in CTKA. No statistically significant differences were seen in any other measure of postoperative morbidity (length of stay, hemoglobin drop, transfusion rate, postoperative anemia, time to achieve 70° flexion, and thromboembolic phenomena). In large, well-matched cohorts, NTKA offered no benefit in terms of early postoperative morbidity when compared with conventional jig-based techniques.