The midvastus surgical approach in total knee arthroplasty

We report a study of 2 surgical approaches to the knee in 42 consecutive pa tients undergoing a total arthroplasty. They were divided into 2 groups. In Group 1 (n=17) the knee was exposed through classic medial parapatellar ar throtomy and in Group 2 (n=25) the knee was approached through the fibers o f the medial vastus. Preoperative assessment did not reveal any statistical differences between the groups, and blood loss, operation time, biochemist ry values and radiographic evaluation were also similar. However, a higher number of lateral releases, a loss of knee extension and a reduced range of motion were significantly associated with classical parapatellar arthrotom y. As the number of operative or postoperative complications was not increa sed, we recommend the mid-vastus approach for total knee arthroplasty.