Greater activity, better range of motion and higher quality of life following unicompartmental knee arthroplasty: a comparative case–control study

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study was to provide a matched cohort comparison of clinical and functional outcome scores, range of motion and quality of life following unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) or total knee arthroplasty (TKA). The hypothesis was that patients receiving UKA report better results than comparable patients who receive conventional TKA. Methods Clinical and functional results of 35 patients with medial end-stage osteoarthritis who had received a fixed-bearing UKA were compared with the results of 35 matched patients who had received a TKA from the same manufacturer by the same surgeon. Outcome scores were measured before surgery and at final follow-up using Tegner Activity Scale (TAS), range of motion (ROM) and Short Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36). The Knee Society Score (KSS) was assessed at final follow-up. The mean observation period was 2.3 years in both groups. Results The preoperative knee scores had no statistically significant differences between the two groups. Postoperatively, however, UKAs performed significantly better regarding TAS and ROM (4 vs. 3 and 118.4 vs. 103.7, respectively). The results of the SF-36 showed significantly better results for the UKA group in the mental component summary score and in the subscale of social function. Conclusions The present study suggests that UKA is associated with higher activity level, higher quality of life, and greater ROM when compared with TKA on comparable patients. Prolonged clinical follow-up in a larger patient cohort with a randomised-controlled study design would be beneficial to confirm these findings. Level of evidence III.

Unicondylar knee replacement versus total knee replacement for the treatment of medial knee osteoarthritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…After screening the titles and abstracts, 44 related studies were first screened out. After conducting a full-text review on the remaining studies, 13 studies were left in the final analysis, including 4 RCTs and 9 non-RCTs (cohort and case-control studies) [3,5,9,12,13,[23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30].…”

Better short-term function after unicompartmental compared to total knee arthroplasty

“…Blevins et al observed that UKA patients suffered less postoperative pain, achieved a higher KSS and were able to return to their workplace sooner than patients receiving TKA [ 18 , 27 ]. Hauer et al found an improvement in the Tegner Activity Scale (TAS) and a better ROM [ 19 ]. Even though there is a growing number of studies underlining the better clinical and functional outcome of UKA, there are also reports showing no benefit of UKA over TKA.…”

Internal fixation and unicompartmental knee arthroplasty for an elderly patient with patellar fracture and anteromedial osteoarthritis: A case report

“…UKA is less invasive and retains more of the patient’s knee joint structure than TKA. UKA procedures can obtain good knee ROM earlier and easier than TKA[ 10 , 11 ]. Therefore, patellar fractures should not be regarded as a contraindication to UKA.…”