The Swedish Knee Arthroplasty Register 1975-1997 - An update with special emphasis on 41,223 knees operated on in 1988-1997

From 1975, when the Swedish Knee Arthroplasty Register (SKAR) started, unti l the end of 1997, 57,533 primary arthroplasties and revisions have been re gistered. Recently, the register underwent a comprehensive validation and u pdate regarding revisions. We now report on general demographic and epidemiological data for the whole period and on the survivorship of arthroplasties performed in Sweden durin g 1988-1997. During this 10-year period, 41,223 primary knee arthroplasties ; were performed on 34,877 patients. We found, as in our earlier reports, t hat survivorship was affected by patient-, time-, implant- and method-relat ed factors but, apart from an overall higher cumulative revision rate, gene ral conclusions reported from the register in recent years appeared to be u naffected.