Bone quality of the calcaneus 5years after total knee arthroplasty.

We used non-invasive broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA) to determine whether the pre-surgical bone quality of the calcaneus was improved 5years postoperatively, and whether the interval between total knee arthroplasty (TKA) surgeries influenced post-surgical calcaneal bone quality. All patients underwent scheduled, staged, bilateral TKA. Twenty-one patients (42 TKAs) with bilateral knee osteoarthritis were evaluated. One day before and 5years after TKA, BUA through the os calcis on the surgical side was measured. Fourteen out of 21 patients showed post-surgical improvement in BUA bilaterally. When all 42 cases were considered together there was a significant improvement in BUA 5years after surgery (P=0.042). There were no significant correlations between the changes in BUA on each side and the interval between TKA surgeries.