Autograft of tibial deffects in primary total knee arthroplasty: reliability and cost effecticeness

Twenty-one cases of advanced arthritis of the knee with tibial bone loss and varus angle greater than 15 degrees were treated by total knee arthroplasty with autogenous bone graft to fill the tibial defect. All operations were performed at El-Hadara university hospital and Karmouse insurance hospital, Alexandria, Egypt. This study was 4 carried out in the period from July 1999 through March 2005. The average age at the time of surgery was 64.7 years. The primary diagnosis was osteoarthritis in eighteen cases [85.7%], rheumatoid arthritis in one case [4.8%], and post traumatic in two cases [9.5%.]. The mean period of follow up was 25. 7,months. Cases were assessed clinically and radiologically both pre and postoperatively and scored according to the Knee Society Score. Nineteen cases had excellent knee score at the final follow up while two had good results. There were no fair or poor results. Union of the graft occurred in 18 cases [85.7%]. Two cases had non union. One case had absorption of the graft on the final follow up x-ray. None of the cases showed collapse of the graft or any lucent lines at the bone cement interface