Al-Otaibi proves the available knee implements do not match the Saudis
The scientific research of the Surgical Consult in Prosthetics at King Khalid University, Dr. Muhammad bin Lafi Al-Otaibi, has proven how specific is the knee size of Saudis in relation to the European and North American implants which are currently used in Saudi Arabia. The paper was recently published in The Saudi Medical Journal.
The Radiology Consultant at the University, Dr. Ghazi Al-Shamrani, participated in this study for its importance because a large segment of citizens need artificial implants as a way to change their lifestyles to cope with the changes in the society.
Al-Otaibi stressed on the importance of scientific research and employing it to the service of society which is one of the most important pillars and functions of universities. He pointed that investigating the knee anatomy in Saudis is an urgent need, considering the increase in knee replacement surgeries. He added European and North American Orthopedic surgeons noticed that the manufactured artificial joints do not match with patients from other countries especially from Asia.
Al-Otaibi explained this mismatch resulted to the patients feeling some pain. He made sure to document what he noticed scientifically in his research with the aid of radiology to check patients' knee girth readings with micro-CT scan.
This paper showed the need to have different sizes of artificial joints in order to be suitable for Saudi patients. This conclusion was reached after applying an evaluation methodology to all knee CT images obtained from the southwestern region in Saudi Arabia. This ensured that Saudi patients have different Morphological features which doesn’t fit with the available artificial implants. The available artificial implants are designed for Caucasian patients so there is a need to design new implants which take these differences into account.
The Study was conducted on 100 knee images of 50 male and female Saudi patients around the ages of 28-85. No statistical differences were found in age and and Sasaki angle between male and female patients. However, there was a difference in the measurements of the available (Caucasian) joints which was greater in males than females. The size of the knee joints in the research samples proved a small bone formation of the joint and the need to find joints that take this into account.