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Researchers report similar results with inset biconvex patella prosthesis, patella resurfacing
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Orthopedic researchers from the University of Western Ontario reported that 10-year results of using inset biconvex patella prosthesis in patients who received a primary knee arthroplasty were as good as those who underwent more traditional patella resurfacing.
According to the investigators, the inset biconvex patella component is an alternative form of patella resurfacing in knee arthroplasty.
“Based on our experience with the inset biconvex patella, we hypothesized the survivorship and clinical and radiographic findings of this implant would be at least equivalent to those other types of patellar components used for resurfacing,” the authors wrote in their paper, which appeared in the online edition of Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research.
They retrospectively reviewed 433 patients who received 521 patella prostheses prior to April 1997 to determine survivorship, factors associated with failure of the implant, incidence of anterior knee pain, and factors that may be associated with anterior knee pain.
“We had clinical results for 204 surviving patients (242 knees) without failure of their implants with a minimum 10-year follow-up,” they wrote in their abstract. “For the remaining 229 patients, we used chart or radiographic review to determine if failure of their implant or other complications had occurred.”
At the latest follow-up, 14 patella components had been revised for aseptic reasons or were radiographically loose. The 10-year Kaplan-Meier survivorship for the entire cohort for aseptic failure was 97.0%, according to the abstract.
The researchers associated aseptic failure of the patella component with the presence of osteonecrosis and the absence of a superior rim of bone radiographically. They also noted that there was a 7.8% incidence of anterior knee pain in surviving patients without failure of their implants.
None of the factors they examined were associated with anterior knee pain, according to the abstract.
“Survivorship and clinical and radiographic results are equivalent, but not clearly superior, to those reported for other forms of patella resurfacing,” they wrote.
Reference:
- Erak S, Rajgopal V, MacDonald SJ, et al. Ten-year results of an inset biconvex patella prosthesis in primary knee arthroplasty. Clin Orthop Relat Res. DOI: 10.1007/s11999-009-0816-8.