United Orthopedic Corporation

Pre-Operative Planning A thorough physical examination of the knee should be performed in a standard manner to evaluate the patient's overall knee function. Functional stability, muscle tone, ligamen- tous/capsular laxity and/or contractures, and potential bone loss are all considered. Both A-P and Lateral standing radiographs, with a known magnification, should be obtained and evaluated. Radiographs of the non-operative limb may also be taken to provide an additional reference. Additionally, the surgeon may elect to obtain A-P whole leg radiographs for both limbs to determine the current hip/knee/ankle mechanical axis and to allow for additional preop- erative planning of the intended corrective osteotomies and resultant alignment/implant positioning. If intra-medullary alignment instrumentation is intended to be used, the shape and diam- eter of femoral and tibial canals should be evaluated to help assure the successful use and passage of intramedullary alignment devices into the bone canals. The intended implant size must also be evaluated on both A-P and lateral radiographs, by using the U2 Radiographic overlay templates. The magnification percentage of the templates used should approximate the known magnification of the radiographs. 2