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For most people, knee replacement surgery improves their quality of life in a few weeks. A small percentage of patients, though, aren’t quite satisfied — up to 20 percent, in fact.

Now researchers at the Rubin Institute for Advanced Orthopedics are planning to study how well the two typical knee replacement implants work.

“This study is going to be a game-changer in orthopedics,” said Dr. James Nace, the study’s principal investigator, who has been hoping to help those 20 percenters. “We’re trying to find the perfection point for total knee replacement.”

The Rubin Institute is seeking to enroll 100 people age 18 to 75 who are planning to have a knee replacement surgery at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore.

Participants will make eight in-person visits over five years to Sinai, located near Pimlico. (The Rubin Institute, owned by LifeBridge Health, has about a dozen locations in Maryland.) Free parking as well as compensation for time and travel are available.

During three visits, researchers will analyze patients’ function and gait on the Rubin Institute’s state-of-the-art equipment.

Nace’s staff will compare patients’ gait before surgery, six weeks after surgery and a full year later.

The Rubin Institute’s laboratory is the first of its kind on the East Coast, according to Martin Gesheff, director in the research department at LifeBridge Health.

“The technology within the lab provides an advanced capability for research. It will provide a wealth of data that we can analyze for years to come,” Gesheff said.

Searching for the perfect knee replacement

The study will compare the outcomes of medial pivot devices to single-radius designs. Both implants are used for total knee replacements, but some research indicates that medial pivot designs recreate more natural knee motion.

“Our main purpose is to improve function,” Nace said.

Nace emphasizes that doctors will follow the standard of care during the entire implantation process. The only difference is that study participants will undergo additional tests and gait analysis.

“There’s nothing experimental here; there’s just objective data,” he said.

Nace is looking forward to using the Rubin Institute’s specialized lab for future studies, too.

“There are probably 50 different papers we could publish because we have such a unique gait lab here,” Nace said. “This is really exciting stuff.”

For more information or to enroll in the study, email RIAOResearch@LifeBridgeHealth.org.