This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Patient selection is critical for successful UKA
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
|
|
KOHALA COAST, Hawaii — Unicompartmental arthroplasty may be beneficial for carefully selected patients and the future of the procedure may include arthroscopically assisted techniques, according to an orthopedist from St. Paul, Minn.
“With respect to unicompartmental arthroplasty, it works well in moderately active, middle aged or older patients with strictly unicompartmental pain who understand that the prosthesis is not going to last forever,” Jack M. Bert, MD, said during his presentation at Orthopedics Today Hawaii 2010, here. He added that patient selection and expectations are critical to the success of the procedure.
Bert, who is the section chair of the meeting’s practice management track and the Orthopedics Today Editorial Board section editor for the Business of Orthopedics, said that unicompartmental arthroplasty (UKA) is contraindicated for patients with extremely active lifestyles and those with progression of osteoarthritis in the contralateral compartment.
He also said that he has “been burned” by performing the procedure in obese and borderline-obese patients. However, Bert said that a review of 921 charts documenting the outcomes of patients with a body mass index of 30 or greater and an average follow-up of 7.2 years showed, “there was no increased risk for revision in these overweight or obese patients, which was really surprising to me.”
Bert said that the future may include arthroscopically assisted UKA featuring femoral component designs that do not require resurfacing of the posterior femoral condyle.
“The major advantage to this type of prosthetic implant is it allows for an easier revision to total knee arthroplasty,” he said. “It is probably better than an interpositional implant.”
- Reference:
Bert JM. Unicompartmental arthroplasty. Presented at Orthopedics Today Hawaii 2010. Jan. 10-13, 2010. Kohala Coast, Hawaii.