Posterior condylar bone resection and femoral implant thickness vary by up to 3 mm across implant systems: implications for flexion gap balancing.

The thickness of bone removed from the posterior femoral condyles varied by up to 3 mm across the five TKA implant systems. For each system, the posteromedial condyle resection was larger than the thickness of the posterior condyle of the actual implant. As the difference between the posterior bone resection and the implant thickness increases, the flexion gap will likely loosen and should be accounted for during gap balancing. In commonly used knee implant systems, resected bone is greater than implant thickness and may lead to flexion instability.