Effects on unicodylar knee arthroplasty in postoperative limb alignment knee functions and patient satisfaction

Objective: In this study, we aimed to evaluate treatment satisfaction in patients who received Unicondylar Knee Arthroplasty (UKA) to treat Medial Compartment Gonarthrosis and postoperative limb alignment accuracy on knee functions. Materials and Methods: Fifty-five patients who received UKP within the years of 2011-2014 were included in the study. Six patients received bi-lateral UKP. We evaluated 61 knees total. The patients were observed for as long as 18.3 months on average (ranging 9 to 43 months). The cohort comprised 89.1% (49) female and 10.9% (6) male patients with median age 63 (ranging 46-82). We categorized patients into three groups based on the outcome of post-operative lower limb alignment (mechanical axis) as Zone1, Zone2, and Zone-C patients; Zone-C being the center axis.Clinical and functional assessments (pre- and postoperative) wereperformed according to Knee Society scoring method WOMAC and VAS.We used SPSS 19.9 software in statistical analyses. Results: Body-mass index and median age of the three groups (Zone1, 2 and C) were found to be identical and scored significantly different from each other(80, 90 and 92.5, respectively).The Zone1 group scored significantly higherthan the other two groups (p<0.01)per WOMAC scale (31.8, 24.9, and 23.0, respectively), while Zone1 scored significantly higher than ZoneC only per VAS scale (2.0, 1.33 ve 0.89, respectively). Conclusions:The UKA in the treatment of Medial Compartment Gonarthrosis has successful clinical outcome when the patient's symptoms are carefully evaluated by experienced clinicians. It is critical that lower limb alignment be accurate and optimal. We conclude that the patients receiving optimal limb alignment (with mechanical axis Zone-C and Zone 2) show statistically significant treatment satisfaction regarding knee functions in the treatment of Medial Compartment Gonarthrosis. Key words: Knee, Unicondylar Knee Arthroplasty, Alignment, WOMAC