Marmor knee arthroplasty. Clinical results and complications during an observation period of at least 3 years.

During the period October 1975--June 1977, Marmor arthroplasties were performed on 70 knees, 52 of which had rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and 18 osteoarthritis (OA). These patients were followed up in a prospective study. Following arthroplasty, all knees in this material showed primary improvement with respect to pain, walking ability, stability, and extension deficit. The pain in the contralateral knees was studied postoperatively and within 1 year 9 out of 25 RA knees and 6 out of 10 OA knees showed a spontaneous improvement amounting to at least two steps on the pain scale. Four patients died in the course of the observation period and none of them suffered from knee pain. The late complications of the arthroplasties have been analysed separately. During the observation period, which now averages 45 months (36--55), five knees in the RA group and one in the OA group deteriorated to such an extent as to call for reoperation. Of the remaining 60 knee joints 57 have only initial pain or no pain at all, and the other three knees have pain only after physical efforts.