Bilateral hip and knee arthroplasty in ochronotic arthritis.

No effective medical treatment is available for the treatment of ochronotic arthritis which is a manifestation of long standing alkaptonuria. A patient of long standing alkaptonuria progressing to debilitating ochronotic arthritis of both hip and knee jointswith severe deformities has been described. He was successfully treated with bilateral total hip and knee arthroplasty with an excellent four-year follow-up. The occurrence of severe osteoporosis in this condition and the importance of advocating surgery before development of severe deformities of the joints to improve the outcome of surgery has been highlighted in this article.