ABSTRACT
Objective:To investigate the clinical efficacy of fixed-bearing unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) in the treatment of anteromedial knee osteoarthritis or spontaneous osteonecrosis of the femoral condyle.Methods:Between June 2017 and June 2018, 62 consecutive patients were treated at Department of Joint Surgery, Fuzhou Second Hospital Affiliated to Xiamen University for anteromedial knee osteoarthritis or spontaneous osteonecrosis of the femoral condyle using a fixed-bearing UKA system. They were 27 men and 35 women, aged from 58 to 85 years (average, 69.8 years). There were 58 cases of anteromedial knee osteoarthritis and 4 cases of spontaneous osteonecrosis of the femoral condyle. The courses of disease ranged from 2 to 10 years (average, 5.1 years). Medial unicompartmental knee arthroplasty was performed for all the patients on the fixation platform SLED. Recorded were the hip-knee-ankle angle (HKA) of the patients 2 days after operation, Oxford knee score (OKS) and American Knee Society score (KSS) at the final follow-up and post-operative complications.Results:The 62 patients were followed up for 9 to 21 months (average, 15.6 months). Tibial plateau fracture occurred in one case who eventually obtained bony union after open reduction and internal fixation. Another case had a wound healing problem which responded to drainage and debridement with prosthesis preservation. Another case presented prepatellar pain which was improved after physical therapy. In the 62 patients, the HKA 2 days after operation (172.27°±1.61°) was significantly improved compared to the preoperative value (177.79°±1.32°), the OKS at the final follow-up (19.8±2.7) significantly lower than the preoperative value (50.2±3.1), and the KSS at the final follow-up (89.7±2.6) significantly higher than the preoperative value (49.6±5.2) (all P<0.05). Follow-ups revealed no cases of joint infection or prosthetic loosening. Conclusion:Fixed-bearing unicompartmental knee arthroplasty can lead to fine short-term outcomes for anteromedial knee osteoarthritis or spontaneous osteonecrosis of the femoral condyle.