Clinical and radiographic analysis of accurate restoration of the joint line in revision total knee arthroplasty

Abstract

A clinical and radiographic analysis was performed on 89 consecutive revision total knee arthroplasties. The postoperative joint line position was evaluated and correlated with the clinical outcome. The joint line position was evaluated radiographically. Average follow-up was 8.2 years (24-197 months). Clinical outcome values were correlated to joint line position. More improvement was seen with recreation of the normal joint line to within +/-4 mm of the normal unaffected knee for Knee Society Score, average total arc of motion, flexion, and extension. There was a significant difference found for all 4 variables when combined outliers were compared with goal range (-4 to 4 mm). In this study, clinical outcome was improved if the joint line was accurately reproduced.