TOTAL KNEE REPLACEMENT WITH POSTERIOR CRUCIATE LIGAMENT RETENTION IN RHEUMATOID-ARTHRITIS - PROBLEMS AND COMPLICATIONS

A series of patients with rheumatoid arthritis underwent total knee re placement with posterior cruciate ligament retention and was observed a minimum of 6 years and a mean of 8.2 years, A group of patients with osteoarthritis with an identical prosthesis and a group of patients w ith rheumatoid arthritis with a posterior stabilized implant served as controls, In the rheumatoid arthritis group with posterior cruciate l igament retention, there was an increased incidence in posterior insta bility and recurvatum deformity, resulting in an increased revision ra te, Those patients undergoing revision for instability had a higher in cidence of recurrent synovitis, and at revision the posterior cruciate ligament was grossly absent with a Grade 1 synovial reaction, In pati ents with rheumatoid arthritis undergoing total knee replacement, a po sterior stabilized prosthesis rather than a posterior cruciate ligamen t sparing prosthesis should be used.