Kinematic total knee arthroplasty - A 10-to 14-year prospective follow-up review

To understand better the type and incidence of long-term complications in t otal knee replacement, 306 primary Kinematic total knee arthroplasties perf ormed between June 1978 and December 1982 were prospectively reviewed in de tail. The Kinematic knee is a nonconstrained, posterior cruciate-retaining prosthesis that has right and left femoral components to afford anatomic tr acking of the patella. The overall revision rate was 6.5%. The most common cause for revision surgery was patellar complications. Ten revisions (3.06% ) were for patellar component loosening. Two knees were revised for patella subluxation (0.65%); 1 was in a resurfaced rheumatoid patella, and 1 in an unsurfaced osteoarthritic patella. Stair climbing was better with an unsur faced patella. Anterior knee pain was 21.8% in the unsurfaced patella and 1 1.2% in the replaced patella. These data suggest patella replacement is not appropriate with this design.