Knee arthroplasty rating.

A number of rating systems used to evaluate the results of total knee arthroplasty exist. Many of these systems are based on different concepts, and might be expected to give divergent results. To see if this was so, the authors examined a consecutive series of 235 posterior stabilized knee arthroplasties recording the results according to five rating systems: HSS (The Hospital for Special Surgery), Brigham, Freeman, BOA (British Orthopaedic Association), and the VENN diagram. In spite of their apparent differences, all point systems and the BOA gave almost identical results, while the VENN diagram proved to be the most stringent. The authors suggest that any of the current point systems may be used to "score" arthroplasties, but the results should also be rated with the VENN diagram in order to see the quality of the arthroplasty and a comparison between the different series.