Comparative analysis of clinical usefulness of the Staffelstein Score and the Hospital for Special Surgery Knee Score (HSS) for evaluation of early results of total knee arthroplasties. Preliminary report.

BACKGROUND

Introduced and developed in the second half of the last century, joint arthroplasty has become a method of choice in the treatment of advanced degenerative knee joint disease. The aim of study was to compare the usefulness of the Hospital for Special Surgery Knee Score and the Staffelstein Score in the assessment of early treatment outcome, including rehabilitation, in patients who underwent knee arthroplasty due to gonarthrosis.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

A total of 24 patients who had undergone an arthroplasty procedure for degenerative changes in knee joints were examined in the study. The analysis included forty-four sets of results from examinations performed on average 13 days (SD 7) after knee arthroplasty. Treatment results were evaluated using the Hospital for Special Surgery Knee Score (HSS) and the Staffelstein Score (ST Score).

RESULTS

The HSS Knee Score averaged 59.5 points (SD 19.8). The mean ST score was 82.0 points (SD 22.5). There was a strong correlation (p< 0.005) between the results obtained using both scores and their subscales (activities of daily living, clinical examination, and pain evaluation).

CONCLUSIONS

1. The analyzed scores seem to be a reliable source of information on the functional status of patients after knee arthroplasty and may be helpful tools in clinical evaluation also at an early postoperative stage. 2. Introducing a two-dimensional pain evaluation component, modeled on the HSS Knee Score, into the Staffelstein Score might improve its reliability. 3. A lower sensitivity of the HSS score in comparison with the ST Score that was revealed in the study requires further investigations in order to develop a questionnaire in the future that will combine the advantages of both scores.