[Successful medial unicompartmental knee arthroplasty-What are the most important surgical tricks?].

BACKGROUND

Unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) is an established surgical treatment option for end-stage anteromedial osteoarthritis with excellent functional outcomes and implant survival. Routine preoperative varus and valgus stress views are crucial for the selection of patients for unicompartmental or total knee arthroplasty.

THERAPY

UKA is a soft-tissue based operation that aims to reconstruct the individual joint line and pre-arthritic alignment by restoring the physiological tension of the medial collateral and the cruciate ligaments.

RESULTS

Current data for medial UKA show excellent results for both mobile and fixed bearing implant designs with the correct indication and surgical technique. Cementless fixation offers potential advantages over cemented implants. Registry data demonstrate that institutions and surgeons specializing in partial knee replacement (> 30 cases/year per surgeon, > 100/year per institution) with a high percentage of UKA relative to the total number of knee implants (> 20%) have significantly lower revision rates.