Technological innovation is the key for surgical progress in knee arthroplasty and improvement in patient outcomes. Exploring patented technologies can help elucidate trends and growth for numerous innovative technologies. However, patent databases, which contain millions of patents, remain underused in arthroplasty research. Therefore, the present study aimed to: (1) quantify patent activity; (2) group patents related to similar technologies into well-defined clusters; and (3) compare growth between technologies in the field of knee arthroplasty over a 30-year period. An open-source international patent database was queried from January 1990 to January 2020 for all patents related to knee arthroplasty A search strategy identified 70,154 patents, of which 24,425 were unique and included analysis. Patents were grouped into 14 independent technology clusters using Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) codes. Patent activity was normalized via a validated formula adjusting for exponential growth. Compound annual growth rates (CAGR) were calculated (5-year, 10-year, and 30-year CAGR) and compared for each cluster. Overall yearly patent activity increased by 2,023%, from 104 patents in 1990 to 2,208 patents in 2020. The largest technology clusters were “drugs” (n = 5,347; 23.8%), “components” (n = 4,343; 19.0%), “instruments” (n = 3,130; 13.7%), and “materials” (n = 2,378; 10.4%). The fastest growing technologies with their 5-year CAGR were: “user interfaces for surgical systems” (58.1%); “robotics” (28.6%); “modularity” (21.1%); “navigation” (15.7%); and “computer modeling” (12.5%). Since 1990, overall patent growth rate has been greatest for “computer modeling” (8.4%), “robotics” (8.0%), “navigation” (7.9%), and “patient-specific instrumentation” (6.4%). Most patents in knee arthroplasty for the last 30 years have focused on drugs, components, instruments, and materials. Recent exponential growth was mainly observed for user interfaces for surgical systems, robotics, modularity, navigation, and computer-assisted technologies. Innovation theory would suggest that these rapidly growing technologies are experiencing high innovation output, increased resource investments, growing adoption by providers, and significant clinical impact. Periodic monitoring of technological innovation via patent databases can be useful to establish trends and future directions in the field of knee arthroplasty.

技术创新是膝关节置换术手术进展和改善患者预后的关键。探索专利技术可以帮助阐明众多创新技术的趋势和增长。然而，包含数百万专利的专利数据库在关节成形术研究中仍未得到充分利用。因此，本研究旨在：（1）量化专利活动；(2) 将与类似技术相关的专利划分为明确的集群；(3) 比较 30 年来膝关节置换术领域技术的发展情况。从 1990 年 1 月到 2020 年 1 月，对开源国际专利数据库进行了查询，查找与膝关节置换术相关的所有专利。检索策略确定了 70,154 项专利，其中 24,425 项是独特的并包含分析。使用合作专利分类 (CPC) 代码将专利分为 14 个独立技术集群。专利活动通过针对指数增长进行调整的经过验证的公式进行了标准化。计算并比较每个集群的复合年增长率 (CAGR)（5 年、10 年和 30 年 CAGR）。年度专利活动总体增长了 2,023%，从 1990 年的 104 项专利增加到 2020 年的 2,208 项专利。最大的技术集群是“药物”（n = 5,347 ；  23.8%）、“组件”（n  = 4,343；19.0%）、“仪器”（n  = 3,130；13.7%）和“材料”（n  = 2,378；10.4%）。5 年复合年增长率增长最快的技术是：“手术系统的用户界面”（58.1%）；“机器人”（28.6%）；“模块化”（21.1%）；“导航”（15.7%）；和“计算机建模”（12.5%）。自 1990 年以来，总体专利增长率最高的是“计算机建模”(8.4%)、“机器人”(8.0%)、“导航”(7.9%) 和“患者专用仪器”(6.4%)。过去 30 年膝关节置换术的大多数专利都集中在药物、组件、仪器和材料上。最近的指数增长主要体现在手术系统、机器人、模块化、导航和计算机辅助技术的用户界面上。创新理论表明，这些快速发展的技术正在经历高创新产出、不断增加的资源投资、越来越多的提供商采用以及显着的临床影响。通过专利数据库定期监测技术创新有助于确定膝关节置换术领域的趋势和未来方向。