How accurate are arthroplasty surgeons in visually estimating extension and flexion gaps in total knee arthroplasty?

Key Points

• To evaluate how accurately surgeons estimate extension and flexion gaps during total knee arthroplasty.
• Assessment of surgeon's visual gap estimation during TKA procedures.
• Comparison of estimated gaps to actual measurements.
• Analysis of gap estimation errors greater than 1 mm.
• Surgeons underestimated gaps in extension more frequently than flexion.
• Clinically meaningful errors (> 1 mm) occurred in 33% of examinations.
• A total of 26 out of 78 gap assessments showed significant inaccuracies.