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Similar functional outcomes seen with UKA vs TKA for patients with early arthritis
Unicondylar knee arthroplasty yielded improvements in patient-reported outcomes, function and performance for patients with early arthritis that were comparable to total knee arthroplasty, but also showed shorter hospital stays and fewer complications.
Researchers performed a randomized study of 80 patients with bilateral, isolated, medial compartment knee arthritis treated with either total knee arthroplasty (TKA) or unicondylar knee arthroplasty (UKA). Investigators noted primary outcome measures of the study included improvement at the 2-year follow-up for the knee outcome survey-activities of daily living scale (KOS-ADLS) and high activity arthroplasty score (HAAS). Other outcomes assessed included complications, length of hospital stay, readmissions/revision surgery and final range of motion.
Findings showed both groups had improvements in the KOS-ADLS and HAAS at 2-year follow-up and these improvements were comparable between groups. Both groups had similar performance as assessed by the Delaware index.
Investigators noted patients who underwent UKA had a shorter length of hospital stay, with 5.4 days compared with 6.6 days for patients who underwent TKA. There were more complications and readmissions for patients who underwent TKA. – by Monica Jaramillo
Disclosures: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.