Patellar denervation in total knee arthroplasty without patellar resurfacing and postoperative anterior knee pain: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

The aim of this meta-analysis was to investigate whether patellar denervation with electrocautery (PD) after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) could reduce the postoperative anterior knee pain (AKP). Five randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with 572 patients and 657 knees were eligible for this meta-analysis. Our results showed that PD was associated with less AKP, lower visual analogue scale (VAS), higher patellar scores and better knee function compared with no patellar denervation (NPD). Complications did not differ significantly between the two groups. The existing evidence indicates that PD may be a better approach, as it improves both anterior knee pain and knee function after TKA. Future multi-center randomized controlled studies with large sample sizes are required to verify the current findings.