Unicompartmental arthroplasty of the knee: a review of three-five year follow-up.

Unicompartmental arthroplasty for the treatment of osteoarthritis, that primarily involves a single femorotibial compartment of the knee, has been a controversial procedure. The purpose of this study was to retrospectively review the results of 59 cases in 55 patients, an average of four years after operation. Forty-five of the knees were rated excellent or good and there were eight failures. The thin 6 mm tibial component seemed to be associated with an increased occurrence of loosening and failure of the procedure. There were no failures when thick tibial components were used. The results of this study are encouraging for the use of unicompartmental arthroplasty in the treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee.