A Critical Analysis Of First 35 Total Knee Replacement Cases

This is a study of total knee replacement evaluation done at Dayanand Medical College & Hospital from Aug. 1992 to Aug. 1996 with a follow up of 1½ -4 years. There were 35 knees operated in 25 patients. Age ranging from 33-79 years (mean 54.25 years) with osteoarthritis predominating. The analysis was done according to Hospital for special surgery scoring system. The average improvement in knee score was from 22.88 to 91.23 and functional score improvement was from 16.26 to 73.54. The average range of motion in the whole series improved from 64.4o to 110.7o. A comparison of total condylar and posterior stabilized prosthesis was performed and there was found to be no significant difference between the two series. There were no major complications. The minor complications of two haemarthrosis, one suture line infection and one superficial skin necrosis were managed and the patients had good results. There was no radiological and clinical evidence of loosening. All the patients were satisfied with the results. Thus we recommend total knee arthroplasty for the patients with painful tricompartmental degeneration of the knee with or without deformities whose symptoms could not be alleviated with conservative means. Further we recommend proper and meticulous surgical technique with utmost care to achieve soft tissue balancing and prosthetic alignment for better survival of arthroplasty.