Outcomes and analysis of total knee arthroplasty with non-patella resurfacing techniques for patients with osteoarthritis of the knee in a subpopulation of Western India

Introduction: The decision to resurface the patella during total knee arthroplasty remains controversial. Even though some surgeons routinely resurface the patella to avoid the increased rates of postoperative anterior knee pain and reoperation for secondary resurfacing, others selectively resurface based on the presence of anterior knee pain, notably damaged articular cartilage, inflammatory arthritis, isolated patellofemoral arthritis, and patellar subluxation and maltracking. It is often said that there is no difference in clinical and functional outcome of Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA) for knee osteoarthritis using patellar resurfacing and non-resurfacing techniques. Thus, this study was performed to evaluate the outcome of non-patella resurfacing total knee arthroplasty. Materials and Methods: A total of 50 patients in series who came to Ruby Hall Clinic, Pune with clinical signs and symptoms of osteoarthritis confirmed radiologically, were operated. The functional and clinical outcomes with Knee society score and VAS score were measured. Results: There was significant difference in outcome of non-resurfaced patella pre-operatively and postoperatively. There was significant improvement in mean range of motion (ROM). It was 87.2 Pre-op vs 104.4 Post-op. The Knee Society Score (KSS) had a mean Pre-op 39.66 v/s Post-op 83.26. The improvement in functional score was from a Pre-op 52.5 to post-op of 83.36. The mean Visual Analogue Score (VAS) score decreased from 7.98 to 2. Conclusion: The results showed significant difference in both the main indicators of Knee Society Score (KSS) and Visual Analogue Score (VAS), both pre-operatively and post-operatively.