Sh. Palmer et al., EARLY CATASTROPHIC TIBIAL COMPONENT WEAR AFTER UNICOMPARTMENTAL KNEE ARTHROPLASTY, Clinical orthopaedics and related research, (350), 1998, pp. 143-148
Unicompartmental knee arthroplasty is an appropriate method of treatin
g selected patients with osteoarthritis of the medial compartment of t
he knee. The common causes of failure are aseptic loosening, infection
, patellofemoral pain, and deterioration in the opposite compartment.
Seven cases of a cohort of 32 Robert Brigham unicondylar knee replacem
ents that failed because of early catastrophic wear of the polyethylen
e tibial component are reported, Possible reasons suggested for failur
e include inadequate thickness of polyethylene, fusion defects in the
polyethylene structure as a result of the sterilization process, incre
ased rotational freedom, and reduced conformity in the design of the p
rosthesis.