Primary knee arthroplasty: a six month follow-up

Abstract

Introduction: Knee arthroplasty for the treatment of moderate to severe primary knee osteoarthritis and secondary knee osteoarthritis has shown great success improving the functionality and relieving pain, with low incidence of complications. Main objective of the paper is to evaluate the postoperative functional outcome, complications and satisfaction of patients with knee arthroplasty followed up for 6 months.
Materials and methods: A prospective cohort of 100 patients with knee arthroplasty and 6- months follow-up was developed from November 2010 to May 2011. Patients performed a presurgical functional Oxford knee scale, which was repeated on the first postoperative week, and furthermore at the first month, third and sixth months postoperatively. It was associated with the evolution of satisfaction at the end of the observational period.
Results: We performed 100 knee arthroplasties. The average age was 69 years, 69% female. Any complications occurred in 10% of patients. In preoperative Oxford scale, 97% of the patients were classified into severe osteoarthritis and 3% in moderate osteoarthritis. At 6 months after surgery, 67% were classified in normal joint function and 33% in moderate knee osteoarthritis. The degree of satisfaction by visual analog scale after surgery was 82%.
Discussion: The functional results, satisfaction and incidence of complications found are equivalent to those described in the international literature.
Evidence level: III