Total condylar knee arthroplasty in osteoarthritis. A four- to six-year follow-up evaluation of 103 cases.

One hundred and three consecutive total condylar knee prostheses in patients with gonarthrosis inserted from 1979 to 1981 have been prospectively followed for four to six years. According to the New York Hospital for Special Surgery Knee Rating Scale, 58 knees (56%) were rated excellent; 34 (33%), good; seven (7%), fair; and four (4%), poor at the latest follow-up evaluation. The median preoperative score was 57 points and the median postoperative score 87 points. Thirteen knees (13%) had a radiolucency with a width of 2 mm or more beneath one or more of three tibial zones. In only one case did this represent a clinical loosening. Six knees (6%) had complications requiring reoperation. One deep infection was treated with an arthrodesis, one patellar button was revised after a traumatic patellar fracture, and three superficial skin necroses were surgically managed. Moreover, in one mechanically loosened tibial component, a revision has been planned. No complications were fatal. The modified total condylar I prosthesis is an excellent prosthetic design with a low failure rate in gonarthrosis.