Unicompartmental As Good Total Knee Replacement At 15 Years

Main Category: Bones / Orthopaedics
Article Date: 06 Jan 2009 - 5:00 PDT

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A study published in The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, British Volume has summarised the results from a 15 year follow-up of a randomised trial that took place between 1989 and 1992 whereby 102 knees we given either a unicompartmental knee replacement (UKR) or a total knee replacement (TKR).

The five year results were published in JBJS-Br in 1998 (Newman et al JBJS-Br 1998;80-B:862-5) and they showed advantages for URK 'in respect of speed of rehabilitation, range of movement and the percentage of cases achieving an excellent result'.

Some surgeons still regard UKR as a temporary procedure suitable only for patients under 60 years of age, however this research shows that the trend shown five years ago has continued with no greater failure rate at 15 years of UKR vs TKR. In fact 'throughout the 15-year period of the study the Bristol knee scores for the UKR group remained better than those with a TKR'.

Therefore the authors conclude 'in a randomised group of patients with unicompartmental disease, the results for URK are as good as those for TKR and show no greater tendency to fail for at least 15 years'.

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Notes

- The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery - British Volume is a world leading orthopaedics journal with an Impact Factor of 1.868

- JBJS-Br publishes twelve issues a year of high-quality, peer-reviewed research, overseen by an international editorial board led by Editor James Scott

- The Journal was first published in 1948 by The British Editorial Society of Bone and Joint Surgery, a registered charity (No. 209299), with the object of the advancement and improvement of education in orthopaedic surgery and allied branches of surgery and the diffusion of knowledge of new and improved methods of teaching and practicing orthopaedic surgery in all its branches

- You can find out more about The Journal at http://www.jbjs.org.uk

Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, British Volume