Total knee arthroplasty in patients 40 years and younger.

Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is a procedure with excellent clinical results in older patients with a primary diagnosis of osteoarthritis. Many younger patients undergo unicompartmental or high tibial osteotomy rather than TKA, but are not always good candidates for these joint-preserving procedures. The purpose of this study was to review the outcomes of patients 40 years of age and under who underwent TKA. We identified 33 patients (38 knees) who were 40 years of age or less at the time of surgery. These patients had a mean age of 36 years (range, 23 to 40 years), and were followed for a mean of 49 months (range, 16 to 101 months). The survival rate in the study cohort was 97%. For the young patient who is not a candidate for other types of joint preserving procedures, in the senior authors' experience total knee arthroplasties have performed well.