[Unicondylar knee arthroplasty--indications and outcome].

Continuous development of new materials, improved operative technique and exact patient selection lead to increasing survival rates of unicondylar sleigh arthroplasties during the last decade as it's demonstrated in this review on the literature. During the 80s the average survival rate after 5 years was 85 %, after 9 years 60 %. In the 90s significantly better results were noted with 5 and 10 years survival in more than 95 % of the cases. Thus, like current studies prove, unicondylar sleigh arthroplasties have reached the standard of complete surface replacement. Additionally minimal loss of bone stock, sparing of the crucial ligaments and of the femoropatellar joint as well as short operation time and low morbidity are advantages of these arthroplasties.